The Gods of Darkness order the black wizards to push the kingdom of Sotoya into the abyss of civil war. Having previously found refuge with the free maidens of war from the intrigues of political opponents, the daughter of one of the four barons of the kingdom, breaking all conceivable traditions, marries Basel Bahnakson, one of the Gradani, longtime enemies of the Sotoya. The king supports her father's plans to expand trade by building a waterway through the lands of the kingdom and its neighbors, which does not sit well with traditionalists who resist change. The war maidens foil a traitorous aristocrat's attempt on the king's life, and the combined armed forces of Gradani and Sotoja defeat the magically supported ghouls and open the way for trade along the waterway.