The years of struggle in the new reality made Ryan Cawdor a bold and undisputed leader, but now he may have to contend with his former mentor, the enigmatic Trader. Together with J.B. Dix and Abe, they make a perilous journey down the mighty Colorado, and in the Grand Canyon's mile-deep crags, a degenerate barony and mutie death traps test the limits of the group's survival skills. Weary and torn from their cross-country trek, they return to their stronghold in New Mexico to find it abandoned, with no sign of Krysty Wroth, Dean or the others.