Keladry of Mindelan has finally achieved her lifelong dream of being a knight - though it's not turning out as she imagined at all. With the land of Tortall at war with the Scanrans, she has been assigned to oversee a refugee camp. But Kel has also had a vision in the Chamber - a vision of the man behind the horrific battle machines that her fellow knights and friends are fighting without her. She is torn between a duty she has sworn to uphold and a quest that she feels could turn the tide of war.