Believing he has Dessa, Topper and Fisk cornered in a remote monastery, Captain Drake recalls his early days as a knight in the service of King Roderick. The idealistic young Drake quickly learns that the rest of the King's Dragons do not share his sense of duty, preferring to take orders from the mysterious palace chamberlain, Maarten Greyfalcon. In tracking down a stolen letter for the king, the young Drake is drawn into a web of intrigue that includes a plot against the throne and cryptic clues involving Geyfalcon and Dessa. Does the key to capturing the three thieves lie in Drake's own dark past? Could this spell the end of Dessa's quest to find her long-lost twin brother?