Presented in the guise of a history lecture at an alien university, Norton's introduction explains that in the 40th century the people of Terra (the Latin name having replaced the Anglo-Saxon Earth) can only go to the stars as mercenaries.

On alien worlds Terrans fight brushfire wars and thereby help Central Control maintain peace within its vast interstellar empire.

In the library adjacent to the Hiring Hall he checks out a record-pak, takes it into a booth, and goes into an induced sleep while the mechanism impresses all that is known of Fronn directly into his brain.

While the Horde is marching to meet their employer, a Llor prince contending for the throne of a kingdom, Kana and another swordsman detect a spy hidden in a caravan of Venturi merchants.

Kana and his companion are obliged to shoot the spy dead when they see that he is armed with a flamer, a Mech weapon that is absolutely forbidden on Fronn.

During a lull in the winds the Archs find the wreckage of a six-man crawler, a small, tank-like vehicle, that was carrying Mech weapons to an unknown receiver.

After several days of riding the Fronnian equivalent of camels, the men arrive at the ship just in time to see a squad of Mechs and their Llor helpers finish setting up a disturbing tableau around what turns out to be a Galactic Patrol vessel.

With the stolen ship emptied of its cargo of weapons, the Mechs lay out the bodies of half a dozen Patrolmen who had been shot with Arch rifles.

They find that the ship, appearing to have been looted, is still spaceworthy, so the four men strap themselves into the acceleration seats and the Horde's engineer lifts them into space, setting course for Terra.

They infer, correctly, that they are being hunted by highly placed authorities and they take appropriate evasive actions, even entering Prime through one of the old subway tunnels from before the nuclear wars.

The adventures that follow are protracted and typical of Andre Norton's well developed sets of fantastic circumstances and they result in Kana's initiation to the coterie of Terrans who are breaking away from Central Control and seeking freedom to pioneer on their own on other planets.