After the battle at Egest, Sugutor, Pradd, and Rys are captured by the Inquisition. The exhausted, dying necromancer is saved by the elves of Queen Veida and taken to the Peak of Judgement. Here begins his trial of solitude. After a long conversation with the dragon-guardian named Sfairat Fess, he is sent to where the Western Darkness let loose its tentacles. In the Great Salldor Desert, he learns yet another terrible secret… Meanwhile, Klara Hümel, along with her detachment and the mages Evial Megano and Aneto, tries in vain to catch up with the Destroyer—every time arriving just a little too late. Now she knows for sure that the Destroyer is Fess, who, in addition to everything else, has those same Swords. Sylvia, having fallen behind the companions, stops the breach of the unclean at Egest. Now she no longer wants to rejoin Klara—she begins her own game, unknown to anyone.