There's a vicious new bandit chief operating in the area. There's also a conspiracy to usurp King Dashell and prevent his marriage to Queen Elspeth (for economic reasons, not political). Guess who gets hired to sort it all out? If there's one piece of advice a young soldier of fortune might get from an older one, it would probably be, "never mess with religion, politics, or trade". This does tend to cut down the available avenues of work, though. So with a coup being plotted and not much time left before it swings into action, Alys, Cullan, Kenyon and Morgan have to take their new mercenary company after the ringleaders, and hope they don't get involved with all three at once.