After receiving an invitation from the reclusive country of Natan to meet the new Emperor, King Tyrone entrusts Nigel, Mirit, and Lord Allard as royal envoys. Matters become complicated when a defiant twelve-year-old Titus is discovered to have stowed away. Greatly angered, Tyrone pursues the envoy to recover Titus. However, when met by Admiral Kentashi for final escort to Natan, the group makes a hasty decision to conceal certain identities in hopes of avoiding insult and trouble.

Unprepared for what awaits in Natan, they are plunged into a mystery surrounding the unnatural events that trigger a civil war. When a neighboring warlord attacks, it becomes a life and death struggle to escape Natan, as nothing is what it seems.