The party prepares to follow Tim's next shipment. Several consortes notice that Valerius has been acting even stranger than normal—taking to wearing black, eating voraciously, and sometimes making a weird croaking noise for seemingly no reason at all. The party spreads—through Garnfellow and Maggie—misinformation that they are bound for Canglen. A day before Tim's shipment is due to go out, the party leaves Heremac in the summer heat and camps in the woods, overlooking the road to Vesay.

The party observes several travelers on the road. A heavily armed band of Seekers marches by, shortly followed by Tim's men. There are several fellows accompanying two heavily loaded carts. A few miles after the party begins following them, the men pull one of the carts off the road and cover it with brush. They leave the cart behind and continue toward Vesay.

The consortes examine the cart, and Valerius deduces that the cart contains disassembled siege equipment. The party takes up positions, waiting for who or what will claim the cart. Shortly after, a band of over a dozen rather scruffy bandits emerges from the woods to pick up the cart. They lead the cart off the main road on to a hidden, rut-filled trail, which heads north and west.

The going is slow and the bandits are very edgy. Many complain about headaches or Tim, and others seem worried about nearby rucks. The party identifies a couple of leaders, one of whom is named Gryth. After a hard day, the bandits make camp.

The next day the bandits continue on under overcast skies. Early in the morning, a slaving party of Black-blades crosses the bandit's path, but the bandits hide and the Black-blades pass without incident. The party can see that the rucks are bearing several captured peasants; the consortes debate what to do. It is decided to continue following the bandits. Later in the day the bandits break an axle on the cart, an event which causes much dismay and several quarrels. Gryth deals with this dissention by giving a few sound beatings and by issuing extra rations of some sort of powerful liquor. By the time the cart is repaired a second day is nearly run, and the bandits make camp.

The bandits arrive at a campsite. There are at least two knights, four serjeants, eight soldiers, and a dozen Rotting Eye rucks. This new group seems rather organized, well equipped, and disciplined: The knights wear chainmail, have war-horses, and bear shields with the insignia of a lily. The knights berate Gryth at length for his tardiness, but then give him and his men a bag of coin and a cart of jars which possibly contain more liquor. Gryth then gives the knights a message and the cart of siege equipment. The knights break camp; the bandits head back towards Heremac and the knights and their retinue head north and east. After a hard day's march, the knights make camp. Ruik and Mendelor creep close enough to camp to overhear some interesting things. The two knights are named Sir Waleran and Sir Burchard. They are concerned about the delays caused by the broken cart, and are concerned about the reaction of a man named Claudius.

Back at the party's camp, Valerius recognizes Claudius as Lord Lownell's seneschal, who seemed sympathetic to Sir John the Bastard. This seems to confirm the theory that Sir John is now ensconced in Lownell as Lord, and seems somehow allied with King Tereus. The consortes decide to follow the knights back to Lownell and observe what they can.

As the knights draw near to Lownell. The consortes decide to mount an attack the next morning, while the rucks and the men are the most vulnerable.

On the Feast of St. Luther the party plans a careful attack, but even with surprise they soon find that Sir John's men are well-trained, tough fighters. While Hamral, Mendelor, and Renton attack the sleeping serjeants, Wyk attempts to pull out the stakes around the knight's tent. The rest of the party attack ruckish sentries. Although outnumbered and taking casualties, the consortes stand their ground. Sir Waleran and Sir Burchard are able to grab their horses and ride off, but not before Valerius summons a cloud of biting gnats to bedevil the horses. The knights escape, and the rest of their men run away also. Wyk subdues one of the henchmen with a sound beating. In the ruins of the camp, the party finds some coin, two suits of chainmail, four war-horses, a pouch with two gems, and a letter, presumably addressed to Sir John. It reads:

Here are the goods requested. More coming. The last transaction was very satisfactory. Our client will need more services soon. What is available from Straffex?

The party torches the cart, the siege equipment, and the bodies of Sir John's men and ruck-men. With the war-horses, donkeys, and the prisoner, the consortes head back to Heremac.