When one of the weapons, an unremarkable greatsword, is stolen, Vlad traces the theft to Fornia, an ambitious Dragonlord who neighbors Morrolan's domain.

Morrolan is not sure whether the weapon is actually valuable, or if the theft is merely an excuse to start a war, but he resolves to fight Fornia regardless.

Vlad mixes with his fellow soldiers and finds that most of them are surprisingly courteous despite their personal distaste for Easterners.

He also makes a name for himself by performing a few acts of nighttime sabotage in the enemy camp, which he finds more suited to his skills than pitched combat.

He learns that Sethra the Younger picked up the greatsword and claimed it as spoils of war, but she could not discover any hidden power within it.

They tend to have black hair, angular features, prominent chins, and noble's points that indicate their nobility.

Periodic service in the Phoenix Guards is mandatory, and Dragonlords make up a bulk of the company's members.

Dragons tend to have a rigid sense of honor and glory as well as a keen interest in lineage.

While most Dragaerans go only by personal names and titles, Dragonlords use patronymics honoring their most famous ancestor.

Publishers Weekly called it a "rousing adventure", and noted its "sneaky plot twists".

[1] Steven H Silver found the plot to be "much more straight-forward than many of the previous Vlad novels", which he felt allowed Brust to "experiment with story-telling style"; Silver also commended Brust's ability to "portray the terror and hardships of war" while not "show[ing] the brutality of war in detail", as "there is very little sense of gore.