Based on Mot's confused dream, many of the consortes suspect that Sir Reginald may have sought the Geaunt, said to dwell in a ruined tower to the west. Determined to find the missing paladin, the consortes leave Heremac and head west. Soon after entering the occupied lands Noxumbra reports that several rucks are attacking a single man on the road ahead. The party rushes forward to find a wretched, naked man, armed with only a staff, successfully fending off an entire patrol of Black-blades. Swinging into action, the party breaks up the rucks' sport. Mendelor discovers an amazing property of Invictus: the sword seems to protect the woodsman from being cut or stabbed by attacks. The fight that follows is hard and many of the consortes are wounded—but all of the ruck-men are killed except for one straggler that Wyk wrestles to the ground and forces to surrender. The captured ruck says his name is Snurla, under the command of Gurshak, whose company is camped a few miles off.

Meanwhile, Friar Sidrach offers a clean cloak and some food to the naked man, who is tired, filthy, and quite hungry. The man introduces himself as a former knight who had once been known as Sir Heldon, and had served the dead Baron Derwich. Heldon escaped the carnage at Derwich only after seeing the Baron and his family murdered by Busirane. Shamed by his failure, Heldon renounced his knighthood and took to the wilderness, to live humbly as a hermit in order to atone for his cowardice. Heldon politely refuses to accompany the party in its quest for Reginald, but reveals that he had met the Penitent several months earlier. Heldon had encountered the paladin while Reginald was investigating rumors that Baron Derwich's son, Frederick, had somehow survived the slaughter. After Heldon told Reginald about the poor boy's true fate, Reginald resolved to turn his attention to the Geaunt.

The consortes part from Heldon and skirt far around the Black-blade camp. The captive Snurla explains that the rucks greatly fear the Geaunt, whose tower lies beyond a strange wood that the ruckish high command has declared off limits. That night Snurla is killed under rather curious circumstances, and the party continues west the next morning. After a long day's march, our heroes begin searching for a place to camp, and at twilight they happen upon a pleasant little stream. This discovery greatly disturbs Noxumbra, who had not spied any such stream only moments earlier. Bemused, the party makes camp. While Ruik and Dale take the first watch, they see strange lights dancing in the woods on the other side of the stream. They also hear strange wisps of sounds—merry laughter, talking, and music. The more Ruik listens, the more he seems to understand, and he begins to almost discern bits of conversation. Ruik occasionally thinks he hears his name being called.

Meanwhile, Dale alerts the rest of the consortes, who arrive at the stream bank in time to find a curious Ruik about to cross the water alone. After surveying the scene, Valerius calls out a single, unfamiliar word: "Niflognif." Instantly the lights wink out and the music ends. The lights and sounds do not return that night. Inexplicably, everyone on the last watch falls asleep while on guard and when the party members awaken, covered with dew, they find themselves in what appears to be a completely different place from where they had made camp the night before. Instead of a wood by a stream, they are in a strange glade encircled by a ring of weird toadstools. Mot and Mendelor each pluck a toadstool from the faerie ring. Everyone in the party feels very tired and complains of small aches and pains—as if someone had pinched and poked them all night long.

Unable to locate the stream from the night before, the party continues west and discovers a curious formation of apple-trees. Upon close inspection, the trees strangely seem to resemble ruckish figures. Ruik climbs one of trees, and when he accidentally breaks a branch a cry sounds, as if uttered in pain. And a strange red sap resembling blood flows from where the branch snapped.

As the day gives way to twilight, the party suddenly stumbles upon another little stream, very much like the one found the night before. After voting to not cross the stream, the party camps on the near side of the water. That night the lights and strange sounds reappear. Ruik is certain that he hears beautiful voices calling him away and Vandoren discovers that he is also able to discern bits of voice and melody. Vandoren draws forth his psaltery and tries to match some of the wonderful, unearthly music, but he is only able to capture a few fragmentary phrases. The party crosses the stream and once on the other side the consortes begin pursuing the strange lights. Eventually, the entire group falls asleep.

Everyone wakes to a great wonder: the consortes are now in a marvelous enchanted forest, with trees stretching high into the sky above. There is no sign of the stream or the lights, and several small, curious changes are noted. When Ruik awakes he bears on his forehead a crown made out of gold oak-leaves, and Vandoren finds that his psaltery strings have been transformed into gold wire. Wyk's club is now a bundle of flowering crocuses and the two toadstools that Mendelor and Mot had taken from the faerie ring are now small candles. Valerius reports that some acorns that had been given him years earlier by a mysterious, possibly fae creature now appear to be gold coins. And in what is perhaps the strangest change of all, Noxumbra—to the consternation of everyone except herself—is able to speak clearly.

The party, concluding that they have entered some sort of faerie realm, begins searching for a road. Mendelor finds a strange cobbled path that runs as far as the eye can see. On one end, the path heads toward lands that seem increasingly brighter, and on the other end the path heads toward growing darkness. Consulting Mot, the consortes turn their backs to the light and head down the darkening path, following the route of Reginald.

The path is strange: days and nights seem to move at an altogether different pace, or perhaps to have stopped moving completely. Only by heading down the path does the amount of daylight change, gradually diminishing the farther the party travels. After following the path for a long time, the party comes to a little hut. Knocking on the door calls forth a tiny, shriveled old figure, who answers all questions cryptically and demands gifts from each of the party members, emphatically claiming several odds and ends as "mine." Wyk grows frustrated by the creature's requests and refuses to offer up anything—and suddenly finds his ears transformed into the long ears of a donkey. This glamour throws Wyk into a terrible rage, but Ruik is able to convince his friend to comply with the old one's request, and after Wyk reluctantly gives up some cheese his ears are returned to normal.

The party continues toward the darkness until the path forks. The right branch heads down into some foggy lowlands, while the left branch runs into some hills. The party takes the high road, and after travelling for a time they meet a noble-appearing figure astride a fine war-horse. The figure is dressed in flashing armor and from head to two his raiment is colored yellow. The Yellow Knight greets the party and challenges the fighters to a duel. Although Wyk is eager to take up the gauntlet, once again Ruik intervenes and the challenge is declined.

Pressing on, the party finds another hut and hears weeping within. Ruik investigates and finds a pretty young girl who introduces herself as Maid Martha. Martha is relieved to meet some visitors from Heremac, and tells how several weeks ago she and her father, like the consortes, had been travelling on the Frounter when they stumbled upon the strange wood. Her father, Sir Galen, was a knight under the Count of Kirke. Lost, Martha and her father wandered through these unfamiliar lands until they came to the Tower of the Geaunt and her father was taken prisoner. Martha was in turn forced to live in this cottage where she spins wool day in and day out for the Geaunt.

Ruik, instantly smitten by the girl, solemnly vows to rescue her father from the clutches of the wicked Geaunt. The rest of the consortes question her about the nature of the Geaunt and the layout of his Tower. Martha reveals that a riderless horse hauling an empty cart regularly appears outside her cottage. She loads up the cart with yarn and the horse then bears the entire load back to the Tower.

The consortes hatch a plan. When the cart arrives, Mendelor, Vandoren, Ruik, and St. James hide themselves under piles of yarn and let the horse carry them back to the Tower. Meanwhile, the rest of the party follows at a safe distance. The horse trots on for miles and miles through darkening lands, until it reaches a barren, desolate region where those few green things that grow are ugly and thorny. It is cold here, and the very sky seems to be arrested at perpetual dusk. And looming over the entire landscape is the monstrous Tower, larger than any cathedral and fallen into disrepair.

The horse trots through the entrance gate and into a cavernous chamber, and continues until it reaches a huge storeroom filled to the ceiling with a mountain of yarn. The four stowaways hide themselves in the room and soon a secret door opens in the wall. Two man-like figures, taller than ogres, approach, bearing pitchforks. The two servants make quick work of unloading the cart and do not discover the hidden spies. Once the servants leave the lads begin exploring the Tower. Vandoren uses magic to send messages back to Valerius and the rest of the group, apprising them of all that happens within the Tower. The spies climb a huge set of stairs up to the next level, where they enter a gigantic room.

Suddenly, booming footsteps thunder from outside the room. The spies, seeing open windows, quickly scale the wall to reach the window sill. Throwing a rope down to the ground outside, they begin lowering themselves out of the room. The ponderous footsteps get louder and louder, but at the last moment Ruik decides not to descend the rope. Instead, the brave little thief waits on the sill.

Soon the horrible Geaunt enters the room: the monster stands well over twenty feet tall and has a great red beard. Ruik shouts forth a challenge to the Geaunt, who is surprised and enraged by such impudence. The Geaunt begins furiously searching the room for the unseen intruder, but Ruik further angers the creature by successfully hiding in the shadows. Ruik taunts the Geaunt, saying he knows where the Geaunt could find something that he does not yet possess by walking a hundred paces outside the Tower.

The Geaunt, intent on locating—and devouring—this nuisance, rushes down the stairs and out of the Tower. Ruik signals for his three accomplices to climb back up the rope. Meanwhile, the rest of the party trembles as an enraged giant comes roaring out of the Tower in search of a tiny intruder. The thwarted Geaunt goes berserk and begins tearing up boulders and dead trees. And while the Geaunt rages outside, the four spies inside formulate a daring plan, which Vandoren relays to the rest of the group.

The spies locate the mechanism that operates the huge portcullis over the Tower's gate, and soon the thieves are hard at work on a trap. Meanwhile, the Geaunt eventually tires of his tantrum and begins heading back inside the Tower. Just as the Geaunt steps under the gate, Vandoren uses some magic to create the sound of twenty men yelling "STOP!" At this the Geaunt pulls up short and then Mendelor, axe in hand, hacks through the last remaining rope-strand suspending the heavy iron portcullis. The rope snaps and the gate plummets down on the Geaunt, who leaps back and narrowly avoids being impaled. The Geaunt, already irritated, now goes insane at finding himself locked out of his own home. He bellows, hammers at the portcullis, and vainly tries to lift the iron bars.

Suddenly the Geaunt starts sprinting down the road, and at the bottom of the Tower the rest of the consortes begin ascending the rope to open window. At the same time the four spies are discovered by the two pitchfork-wielding servants of the Geaunt. Battle ensues and the servants are both slain just as all of the consortes reach the window.

The consortes split then into two groups, each looking for way to get to the dungeon level of the Tower. Outside, the Geaunt returns with a huge, uprooted tree which he uses as a battering ram, adding a distinct level of urgency to the consortes. It is clear that the gate will not hold forever against the Geaunt's onslaught.

Fortunately, a spiral staircase winding down into the darkness is quickly located, and the entire party heads down and down. At the bottom level the consortes see an entire room filled from floor to ceiling with human bones. Continuing on, the party finds a series of cells with nearly a dozen prisoners—including Maid Martha's father, Sir Galen. The thieves quickly pick the locks and free the prisoners—but there is still no sign of Reginald.

St. James then locates a secret door which opens into a circular room wherein Sir Reginald lies upon a stone bier, as if dead. Vandoren picks up the horn lying at the Penitent's feet and begins to blow. The trumpet's call awakens Reginald and as the echoes reverberate throughout the dungeon, the entire Tower begins to shake and moan. Cracks appear in the walls and stones begin to tumble down from the crumbling ceiling. The party gathers the prisoners and begins scrambling up the stairs, heading for the waiting rope.

The entire Tower starts to tear apart, and many people are hurt by falling debris. Valerius and Hamral are nearly crushed beneath a cave-in, but the group continues up the stairs and reaches the upper level just as the stair shaft implodes. With time growing short the party members and the prisoners begin sliding down the rope to safety. But even amidst all the terrible sounds of destruction it is possible to hear the Geaunt approaching.

With only a handful of consortes left on the upper level, a huge section of ceiling suddenly collapses, utterly crushing Wyk beneath its weight and nearly killing several other party members as well. Ruik screams at the loss of his friend, and Mendelor has to force the young thief down the rope.

Mendelor, the last man at the top of the rope, watches in horror as the Geaunt enters the crumbling room. But then Mendelor is out the window and down the rope. Almost as soon as the woodsman reaches the ground the entire tower collapses in on itself, killing the Geaunt and forever interring Wyk's remains.

Ruik is stricken with grief and takes no pleasure out of the Geaunt's demise. After examining the ruins, the group returns to Martha's cottage, where she is joyously reunited with her father. One of the former prisoners recognizes Friar Sidrach and Hamral: It is Sir Aleck Rowland, Lord of Hillsfar, who met them a few years ago. Sir Aleck remembers Hamral well, and grateful for the daring rescue, he asks to borrow Hamral's sword. The knight then asks Hamral to kneel. And when Hamral complies, Sir Aleck knights him.

The entire group, tired from the recent struggle, decides to rest at Martha's cottage. Everyone wakes up to find themselves back in a mundane wood. Ruik's crown has turned to woven witchgrass, and aside from the new faces—and the absent Wyk—there is little proof that the adventure of the Geaunt's Tower ever happened.

Reginald seems agreeable to freeing Lownell from Nestor's rule. And in the meantime the party agrees to return to Hillsfar with Sir Galen and Maid Martha, Baron Alec, and Sir Hamral.