Rogue Coroder was just a junior assistant librarian and understood perfectly well that he, a rootless foundling, would never become a Library Knight. But the High Librarian of Sanctaphrax thought differently. It is Plut, his best student, who will go through the Deep Forests to distant lands called the Free Wasteland. The Lake Academy awaits him and two other future knights. But the path there is long and dangerous. The Great Swamp, a gang of shriek and the guards of the Night are waiting for travelers.