A small detachment, including the Company's doctor and historian, Croaker, is flown to Juniper, a run-down port outside the empire, at the request of the local prince, to investigate a mysterious black castle, a possible magical connection to the Barrowland.

Raven, a deserter from the Company, and his ward Darling are living at Marron Shed's dilapidated hotel in Juniper.

Two of the Lady's most powerful wizards, Whisper and Feather, arrive to investigate the castle and determine that it is an attempt by the Dominator to escape.

Croaker cannot hand him over to Whisper for questioning, as the Company's connection to Darling would be revealed, so he fakes Shed's death.

In the process, they discover that some of the Dominator's minions had slipped away from Juniper and planted the seed for another castle in a new, more secluded spot.

The Lieutenant barely gets away in the ship with most of the men, but Croaker, Shed, Company wizards Silent, Goblin and One-Eye, and a few others are left behind.

They become Rebels—the very group they were fighting against—to protect Darling and to spend the next 29 years on the run, waiting for the return of the Great Comet, which prophecies say will signal the downfall of the Lady.