Kinch Na Shannack owes a small fortune to the Guild of Pickers for being trained in the thieves' craft, i.e. lockpicking, knife fighting, wall climbing, fall damping, lie weaving and trap setting, as well as a few minor magic tricks. He has to pay off his debt, so he hid by the old forest road to rob the travelers passing by.

Today, however, Kinch Na Shannack chose the wrong target.

Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden to the goddess of death. He is looking for his queen, who has disappeared after the giants overran a far northern city.

Kinch can be happy that he escaped the failed robbery alive, but his fate is fatally intertwined with that of Galvá. The thief and the knight are forced by common enemies and unusual dangers to embark on a grand journey, where goblins hungry for human flesh and krakens hunt in dark waters await, and honesty is a luxury few can afford.