Razo--short, funny, and not a great soldier--is sure it's out of pity that his captain asks him to join an elite mission escorting the ambassador into Tira, Bayern's greatest enemy.

But when the Bayern arrive in the strange southern country, it's Razo who discovers the first dead body. He's the only Bayern able to befriend both the high and low born, the people who can provide information about the ever-increasing murders. And he's the one who must embrace his own talents in order to get the Bayern soldiers home again alive.