Halt, a Ranger and Will’s teacher and protector, stands motionless in front of a tree as bandits attack a merchant’s carriage. Like all rangers, Halt is protected by his camouflage cloak and ability to stay perfectly still. He watches as a black-cloaked bandit approaches the carriage, but he soon grows disappointed: Halt is hunting Foldar, a lieutenant of the recently deceased Lord Morgarath, but this bandit is an imposter using Foldar’s reputation to scare innocents on the road. Halt watches as the fake Foldar—actually Rupert Gubblestone—threatens the merchant and his wife. The merchant tries to push his wife out of the carriage, but before anything further happens, Halt shoots an arrow through Gubblestone’s collar and pins him to the carriage frame.

Halt emerges, like magic, from the tree, and the bandits all surrender, terrified of his unexplained appearance and longbow. He gets the youngest bandit to tie everyone’s hands with their belts and sends the merchants on their way. The husband attempts to bluster to cover his embarrassment, insisting that the bandits should be hanged, but Halt just quietly says that they’ve wasted his time.

Some time later, Halt returns to Crowley, the Ranger Commandant, but Crowley refuses to let him go after Will, even though every wasted day risks Will’s life and safety. Crowley insists that, as a King’s Ranger, Halt’s loyalty must stay focused on the King’s priorities. Halt, in turn, argues that the kingdom owes Will for his part in the recent war against Morgarath, but Crowley refuses to consider Halt leaving for another two months. Halt decides to see King Duncan personally, but Crowley informs him that the King has refused to see him. Halt, furious, decides to change the King’s mind.

Erak’s wolfship lands on the small island of Skorghijl. He informs Will and Evanlyn that they will shelter in the makeshift village there for six weeks to two months—until the summer gales go away and allow them to sail back to Skandia’s capital city, Hallasholm. The island is bleak and uninviting, but Will and Evanlyn are allowed to wander where they will; however, when they set foot on dry land, they can barely move due to motion sickness from not having been on land in some time. Will and Evanlyn get a fire going while the sailors unload their supplies. As they start the fire, they reminisce about how they got captured and met one another. Will wishes that Evanlyn hadn’t gotten captured, but he quickly realizes that she is currently the only thing making his life worth living.

Erak, watching their exchange, decides that it is good that they have each other and, due to his respect for them and their bravery, decides to try and make their lives easier if he can. He catches himself and grows angry at his emotionality. He then stalks away to claim a good bunk for himself in the huts.

Halt exacts his plan to get Duncan’s attention by going to a dingy tavern in the capital city and getting—seemingly—very drunk. The tavern keeper is afraid of him and knows he is dangerous but supplies him with a drink anyway, even after Halt deftly takes down a stevedore who tries to attack him. The attitude in the tavern changes, however, when Halt begins to insult the King, calling him a fool and an illegitimate pretender to the throne. The tavern keeper sends his wife to get the Watch, noticing a brief flash of satisfaction on Halt’s face when the rear door’s latch clicks. Halt continues his tirade against King Duncan, threatening and harassing the people at the bar and preventing them from leaving. A corporal of the watch arrives and demands to know what is going on, but Halt quickly threatens him with a drawn arrow; as the corporal struggles to maintain his courage, the bowstring “snaps,” and the Watch attacks Halt and brings him down. The tavern keeper is suspicious that Halt went down so easily, but nobody sees the blade that Halt used to cut his own bowstring.

Will, determined to both get back in shape and escape whenever possible, begins a training regimen on the island, running, climbing, and doing pushups at a frenetic rate. Despite his invitation, Evanlyn refuses to join him, instead growing sulky and reticent. He believes that she might have accepted their fate, which disappoints him. Eventually, she comes over and tells him that his efforts are a waste of time; they can’t escape, and Erak is growing suspicious. He asks her what else they can do, and she reluctantly tells him that the King will pay their ransom. He is confused, as she is a lady’s maid, but she reveals that she is Princess Cassandra; when she met him in the previous novel, she had escaped the northern country of Celtica in disguise. He demands to know why she didn’t tell him earlier, and she points out that he would have tried to escort her to safety and they would have lost the war. She says that when they get to Skandia, she can talk to the Oberjarl and arrange for a ransom. Will knows that she will be kept safe but he will not be prioritized, meaning that he could die enslaved before any ransom comes. He decides to find his own way out and let Evanlyn manage her own affairs.

In the beautiful throne room of the grand yet intimidating Castle Araluen, King Duncan holds court with as few people as possible to pass judgment on Halt’s treasonous behavior. The procedure is controlled by Lord Anthony of Spa, Duncan’s chamberlain, who helps Duncan keep peace and order in the kingdom with careful efficiency. Duncan is devastated by the entire situation since Halt is his friend, but he knows that he must pass judgment regardless of his feelings to maintain authority and respect as the King.

Four guards escort a bruised and battered Halt into the throne room; Duncan quickly notices that he looks incredibly sad, but Halt quickly covers that up with stubbornness and dry humor, inciting anger from Lord Anthony. When Duncan calms the room down, Anthony reads the charges; Duncan tries to find a way around them, but Halt refuses to deny the charges and insists that he did, in fact, commit treason. He also refuses to admit why he would betray his country in the first place, baffling Duncan, who has only ever seen Halt be staunchly loyal. Duncan tries to argue that he is in just as difficult of a place as Halt since his daughter is also a captive, but Halt points out that Will has no promise of being well treated, silencing the King. Anthony tells Duncan to punish Halt with either banishment or death, according to law. Duncan decides to banish Halt for one year, inciting temporary protest from Anthony, who insists that they must follow tradition and sentence him to death. Duncan refuses to consider it and tells Halt to leave within the next 48 hours and not to return for 12 months. Halt nods in acknowledgement of the King’s grace, but Duncan is simply tired and confused that it got to that point in the first place.

Evanlyn watches Will continue to exercise and grows increasingly annoyed with him, sure that he is planning something behind her back and not trusting her to take care of them both. She assumes, miserably, that this is because she is a girl, even though Will trusted her as an equal when they worked together during the war. She watches Will strike up an easy conversation with Svengal, who has just come back from fishing, and grows even more angry with Will, envious that he has an easy time talking to people while she does not.

Will helps Svengal clean the fish in the hope of getting information out of him. He asks why Svengal goes fishing at a different time every day, and Svengal explains that he must fish with the tide. When Will asks how the tides work, however, Svengal is unsure. He tells Will a myth about the Great Blue Whale, which uses its blowhole to push the water in and out twice every day, but when Will points out that it doesn’t make sense for the tide’s time to change incrementally if a whale is controlling it, Svengal grows annoyed and leaves. Svengal goes to Erak, who notices Will experimenting with the tide and the waves; the two Skandians then both notice a wolfship listing into the harbor.

Halt rides his horse, Abelard, toward the Araluen border but soon stops when he hears the distinctive gait of two Rangers on horses behind him. The Rangers are Crowley and Gilan, Halt’s former apprentice, both of whom are grieved to see him leave. Crowley tries to act cheerful, but eventually, misery overtakes him, too, since he is forced to ask Halt to turn in the silver oakleaf that symbolizes his position as a Ranger. Halt does so reluctantly but refuses to open up to Crowley about his reasons or emotions; Crowley leaves, emotional and disappointed. Gilan then insists that he is going to come with Halt, which Halt refuses. Gilan argues that he was responsible for Will getting kidnapped since he left Will to handle the situation alone, and he knows that Halt is going after Will since his “packhorse” is Will’s pony, Tug. Halt refuses again, insisting that he only trusts Gilan to take care of the Foldar situation in his absence. Gilan reluctantly agrees to stay behind if Halt promises to come home in a year with Will. Halt silently weeps as Gilan leaves.

The Skandians quickly identify the listing, damaged ship as belonging to Slagor, another raider. The exhausted men on the ship come ashore, including Slagor, who greets Erak coldly and receives similar coldness in return. Erak demands answers and quickly puzzles out that Slagor tried to take advantage of a lull in the weather to get an early start on the raiding season, costing two sailors’ lives in the process when a storm hit them. Erak is disgusted by Slagor’s greed, particularly since the captain had refused to aid their war efforts against Araluen, but Slagor retorts that the war itself wasn’t successful—especially since the son of the Oberjarl died. This is news to Erak; Will realizes as Slagor describes the prince’s death that Gilan and Halt participated in the battle that killed him. Slagor then reveals that the Oberjarl has declared a Vallasvow—a vow of vengeance—against Duncan and the royal family, meaning that hiding Evanlyn’s identity as the Princess is now a matter of life and death.