It should have been so simple . . . Durine, Kethol, and Pirojil are three mercenaries who have spent twenty years fighting other people's battles, defeating the Tsurani and the Bugs and the goblins. Yet now it seems there are no more enemies to vanquish, leaving them with a few months of welcomed garrison duty as the Riftwar rages on in the west. When the trio is ordered to accompany a lady and her husband safely to the city of LaMut, it looks like an easy--even cushy--assignment. But in Midkemia, nothing is that straightforward, and the men find themselves trapped by a vicious winter storm in a castle with scheming lords and ladies, an unsolved murder, and nothing less than the political future of Midkemia at stake. . . .