The White Lions will not bow. They will lift their heads and the Heron, the Bluebird-even the terrible Dragons of Denay-will be made to hear their roar.

Arriving without warning, the Usurper Daven Marcus has laid siege to Bridgetown from the north with his newly unified army and the throne's ancient cannons-the Bronze Dragons. Meanwhile from the south, the Golden Heron Bank finances a Veckander mercenary force. Only the mighty White Lion Banner Companies-the Lion and the Gryphon-hold the two enemies back from a race to conquer the town between them. Archduchess Amelia and Baron Prentice Ash are forced to fight on two fronts.

From a hidden lair somewhere in the town, the scheming Inquisition servant Bluebird plots their downfall at every turn. With his many agents and eldritch tools, including shapeshifting assassins and forbidden blood magicks, the minstrel spy has a murder of storm crows, sowing death and misfortune. He works from the shadows to turn allies and friends against one another, weakening the river island fortress from within.

Beset by traitors and sorcery, and with two armies poised like the jaws of an inescapable trap, it seems the breath of the Dragons of Denay must surely consume the Lioness Mother from the West and all her pride with her. But Lion and the Gryphon have claws of steel and are well tested in the flames of war.