Shortly after Valerius returns to Upchurch from visiting the Lady of the Keep, the consortes—including Sir Hamral, Friar Sidrach, Mendelor, Renton, St. James, and Owen—head north, bound for Wolfgare. On the road they meet a lone traveler from the Gerardian Order, Friar Todrick. The friar explains that he has spent the last few months covertly wandering the lands controlled by Argus. Friar Todrick claims that he had been sent by his order to gather information, and to provide comfort and spiritual guidance to the poor Pentians there. Argus has driven out all priests and burnt all churches within his kingdom, but worship of the Five has persisted nonetheless.

After parting ways with the Gerardian, the group arrives at the Shrine of the Quill, which has become a popular site for veneration of the Five. Friar Sidrach reports that the place is strong with Pentian faith, and that night he has a mysterious dream. At first he sees a mighty rider, dressed all in golden armor, galloping across an open field. Suddenly, the horse rears and throws the rider to the ground. Then the Friar beholds a bent old woman, kindly in disposition, slowly making her way along a long and winding path. She leans upon a crooked staff and is accompanied by a lamb. The woman stops and warns Friar Sidrach of danger ahead, but also foretells that those who are now high will by and by be cast low.

After a few more days of travel, the consortes encounter a heavily armed mounted patrol out of Wolfgare. While the rest of the group hides off the trail, Friar Sidrach approaches the patrol. The six riders encircle the friar, and are about to take him prisoner when the consortes launch a carefully coordinated attack. One of the riders is revealed to be a magician, and the other riders prove to be skilled warriors. While these rucks present a credible fight to the consortes, our heroes soon gain the upper hand. At this juncture, the magician and the magician’s horse suddenly disappear into thin air, leaving only one surviving rider behind. The hapless ruck-man, however, bursts into flames and dies before he can be interrogated.

Somewhat chastened, the consortes press on, drawing ever closer to Kirke. Mendelor displays the Banner of the Ebon Quill for all to see. Repeatedly through the last leg of the journey, Valerius senses that some magical force is spying on the group, and the Friar offers up some prayers to thwart this intrusion. One morning, when the group is only a few days from Wolfgare, they hear a thundering in the forest, as if a monstrous giant were marching straight for them. The group flees, but after Valerius conjures up Arath, a powerful spirit of the air, to slow the unseen pursuer down.

At last, the band arrives just outside Wolfgare, a heavily fortified castle complex filled with a large palace, gardens, and a strange stone donjon. St. James sneaks into the castle, sets fire to the rucks’ barracks, and in the confusion scouts out the tower, which is at least six stories high. Meanwhile, the Friar miraculously fashions huge pentifixes out of boulders that lie next to the road into Wolfgare.

The next morning, Argus dispatches work teams to destroy Friar Sidrach’s pentifixes. The friar repeats this game for two more nights, until an exasperated Argus orders the execution of some innocent peasants in retaliation.

The next night the consortes debate whether they should investigate the donjon or to invade the prince’s palace. Using the candle of darkness to hide themselves, the entire group enters Wolfgare. St. James creates a distraction by setting yet another fire, and the consortes make for the tower. St. James quickly discovers a secret entrance that leads to a staircase heading straight to the top. While exploring the upper levels of the donjon, the consortes find the workshops of a powerful magician or magicians. There are different chambers filled variously with alchemist’s tools, astrological charts, cauldrons, and magical vestments.

The band scours the top three levels, and then passes through some magical ward that dissipates magical spells. The consortes descend to a level furnished as living spaces. While laughing female voices can be heard behind some closed doors, the adventurers continue on until they enter a large, sumptuously decorated hall, smelling sweetly of incense. The walls are lined with billowing, silken cloth, and a huge table in the center of the room is laden with all the trappings of a great feast. Around the table are four women, seated in ornate, high-backed chairs. The women are tall, beautiful, and regally dressed. They are attended by several female servants.

The consortes approach cautiously, having expected to find haggard and frightened prisoners. The four seated women laugh at this presumption, and reveal that they are in reality the wives of Argus, and what’s more, they are all full-blooded rucks! There is tall Queen Naome, the oldest and wisest of the wives. Next to her sits Queen Rinah, the most beautiful of the four; there is also the handmaid Bethseda, who has borne Argus the most children, and the handmaid Devorah, the smallest and youngest wife.

Naome asks the consortes if they are ready to drop their weapons and be led on to an audience with Argus. She further suggests that the wives might actually prefer for the consortes to put up a struggle. Our heroes try to decide how to respond to this shocking turn of events, but in the end the decision is made by Renton, who in a characteristically charming gesture, offers Queen Naome a suitably profane and defiant response.

The wives reveal themselves to be formidable sorceresses. Valerius calls up a hideous imp of salt, and Mendelor springs forward to attack Naome. His axe strikes home, but miraculously, the queen shrugs off much of the blow’s force. She responds by blasting the woodsman with a bolt of lightning that sends Mendelor sprawling. Friar Sidrach casts the room into silence, but Bethseda counters by using a magical gemstone to dispel the silence. Rimah uses a wand to conjure sheets of sticky webs over part of the room, and Hamral is entangled. Meanwhile, the rest of the fighters concentrate their blows on Naome. St. James hurls a dagger into her back.

Spells fly back and forth while the consortes continue to focus on Naome. The queen, apparently surprised by the ferocity of the attack, begins to waiver under the press. Valerius conjures Lillirit, another spirit of the air, before he is incapacitated by one of Naome’s charms. Naome finally collapses, and Rinah then conjures a magical portal. Bethseda and Devorah gather up the fallen queen, and the wives make good their escape—leaving only their servant Zamora behind.

Zamora has time to launch a single spell before she is torn apart by Lillirit, but the servant’s fireball is enough to engulf the hall in flames. The group considers pursuing the wives, but instead they decide to escape while the defenders of Wolfgare are in disarray.