In the capital, a conspiracy is brewing like a purulent abscess. Sorcerers who use forbidden knowledge, freethinkers of all stripes, impatient heirs to the throne, incited by overseas spies and local traitors. The city plunges into the Night of Fire and Steel...Meanwhile, war rages on the outskirts of the Empire. A detachment of mercenaries receives orders to destroy the nobleman who led the popular uprising at any cost. On the way to his ancestral castle, the mercenaries meet two deserters - a former student and a centaur...