Best friends Ilta and Davek are enjoying their ‎retirement. Their bodies are a bit creaky and the part ‎of the country that they live in is occupied territory, ‎but apart from some shortages and the ubiquitous ‎presence of enemy soldiers patrolling the town, life is ‎good. The war is nothing to do with them. That's for ‎the young ones to worry about.‎
That is, until Darhar Zass, the king's wizard, turns ‎up on their doorsteps. He has, he says, been on a ‎spying mission for the king, and he has a message that ‎absolutely must get through. However, he's being ‎followed and Ilta and Davek, both of whom he knows ‎from their previous lives in the capital, are the only ‎ones he can trust to deliver it for him. ‎
He wants them to carry the message to the king ‎while he leads the pursuit off in another direction. But ‎not only are the two friends ageing, with creaking ‎joints and other ailments, Davek is almost blind and ‎Ilta has been banished from the capital and the ‎surrounding province of Parling on pain of death. ‎They refuse.‎
To force them to comply, Darhar Zass casts a spell ‎on their pets. Suddenly, Ilta's three cats and Davek's ‎dog and bird can all talk, are more intelligent, and are ‎different in other ways too. Since the occupying ‎troops both hate and fear magic, the animals, along ‎with Ilta and Davek, are now in mortal danger. Also, ‎one of the cats has the message for the king implanted ‎in her brain along with a compulsion to go to the ‎capital and deliver it.‎
All of which means that, whether they want to or ‎not, Ilta, Davek and their animal friends have no ‎choice but to leave their homes and try to make it ‎through the occupied lands to the capital where ‎Empress the cat can deliver her message to the king. ‎
However, returning to the capital will put Ilta in ‎danger and when she is arrested, the only way to save ‎her life is to find proof that she was innocent of the ‎original charge against her. It will be up to Davek to ‎solve a years-old mystery and find out why someone ‎saw fit to frame her for a crime she didn't commit. ‎But even if he finds the answers, will it be enough to ‎prove her innocence and prevent her execution? Or ‎will he and the animals have to try to break her out of ‎prison? Because there's no way they're leaving her ‎there.‎