However, due to his gentle nature and a deformity, an underdeveloped left foot, his father, Prince Arutha, decides that Nicholas would benefit from a rougher lifestyle than he is used to in Krondor.

Nicholas is accompanied by his faithful squire and friend Harry, and sails on the Royal Eagle, captained by Admiral Amos Trask, to the small town of Crydee.

However, after about a month, Crydee is attacked, along with the other coastal towns of Carse and Tulan, by a well-organized army of pirates, hired Tsurani assassins, and Durbin slavers.

The crew of the Royal Eagle, now disguised to hide its origin and renamed the Raptor, follows the captives across the sea with guidance from Anthony, who can sense the whereabouts of Margaret.

When Nicholas's men infiltrate the compound where the prisoners are being held, Anthony makes a terrible discovery: the Pantathians have devised a plague that will kill over half of the people in the Kingdom, throwing it into turmoil, allowing them to reach the Lifestone below Sethanon and accomplish their master plan which will destroy Midkemia.

Nicholas and his allies, both those from Crydee and those that joined during their time in Novindus, manage to free the prisoners, capture the copy of the Eagle, and begin the journey home following its sister ship, a replica of the Royal Gull.

After trailing the Gull closely for the long journey back to the Kingdom, Nicholas and his crew finally engage the ship in battle, burning it and sinking it to destroy the plague-carrying copies.