The hero of this novella is Christian, from the kindred of the Brave—the very one who was a squire to the knight Katerino. But now he himself is a wandering knight, and with his squire, the boy Arian, he sets out in search of adventures.
Chris and Arian end up in Mortavia—a country of death, ruled by the evil sorceress Ankusta. But it won’t be with her that he has to deal; instead, it will be with her father, Marquis Kostinyak, well known in the past as a wizard named Soul-Slayer (Dushégub). Through deception and cunning, the marquis forces Christian to take part in his brutal tournament, where he has to fight…