The Union is going through difficult times. The war against the northerner king Betod has dragged on, a peasant uprising is spreading across the country, and the election of the Union's supreme king is underway in the capital, Adua.

Bribery and blackmail are not the only tools that the leader of Glokta must use to ensure the victory of the arch-archbishop of the Royal Inquisition. But soon Glokta has a new problem. Bayaz, the first of the mages, has returned from a mysterious journey to the ends of the earth, and he has his own challenger to the crown in mind.

Meanwhile, a new threat is looming over Middle-earth from the South. Legions of Gurks are coming to enslave the Union and impose their emperor's rule. Among them are the Devourers, the evil minions of the prophet Kalul, who hunt the First of the Mages. It is not easy to defeat such rivals, but Bayaz has a plan...