Kallorek is in possession of Vellichor, Gabe's fabled artifact sword, but refuses to relinquish it and pursues Clay and Gabriel when they go to get Arcandius Moog, Saga's main mage.

They use Moog's portal mirror to escape and end up in the palace bedchamber, where they find Matrick Skulldrummer, the Band's former rogue and now king.

They attend the Company of Kings, a gathering of monarchs from across the country, and encounter Lastleaf, the druin son of Vespian, Master of the Heartwyld Horde about to besiege Castia, and Saga's archenemy.

After encountering Lady Jain and her bandits again, who cook breakfast for them before robbing them again, Gabriel uses Moog's crystal ball to see Castia and becomes discouraged after seeing the sheer size of the Heartwyld Horde.

Clay gives him words of encouragement, and they progress to Fivecourt, where Gabriel retrieves a sack of gold to bargain with Dinatra (a Gorgon noblewoman) for Ganelon, the final member of Saga, who has been petrified for nineteen years as punishment for murdering the Sultana's son and, as such, has not aged as much as the other bandmembers.

They are cornered by Larkspur, a daeva bounty hunter hired by Lilith to find and return Matrick, and manage to escape from her with Moog's help.

Saga's skyship is destroyed by Larkspur's monk thralls, so the Band treks through the Heartwyld, eventually setting camp in the ruins of a fort.

Eventually, Astra gave birth to Vail, a son, who stole Tamarat from his father to break his mother's cycle of horrible rebirth.

Sheltering in a cave, Ganelon and Sabbatha play Tetrea (similar to Chess), while Kit shares how he died: he was executed by the Emperor of Castia for killing his phoenix while drunk long ago.

Sabbatha turns on the Band, revealing that she was faking her amnesia and her broken wing the whole time, and takes Matrick after cutting off Clay's hand.

Matrick is sent to steal the keystone, and they manage to evade Akatung long enough for Moog to use the portal to send the dragon to the bottom of the ocean.

Moog makes the cure for the Rot publicly available, and Ganelon chooses to go back to the Quarry, waiting for Larkspur (whom he unknowingly left with his child).

[10][11] The book has also been compared to the Bethesda video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which contains similar fantasy themes and adventurous mercenaries.

"[6] Samuel Ruth wrote in Tufts Now that the "book is an engaging, funny work that somehow both inhabits and subverts many of the traditional fantasy tropes.

"[13] In an article on Out of This World Reviews, Scott Marlowe criticized the book, saying that "the frequency of pop culture references ... [is] like a bad Andy Weir novel, the childish antics of our group of heroes and the predicaments they somehow get themselves into are tiring.