In the first book of this touching and darkly comic duology, a paladin, a forger, an assassin and a scholar ride out of town on an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. When forger Slatee is convicted of treason, she faces a death sentence. But her unique gift for sniffing out magic (literally) earns her a reprieve? of sorts.
Along with a paladin, Caliban, possessed by a demon, her murderous ex-lover, and an irritating misogynist scholar, Slate sets off on a mission to learn about the Clockwork Boys, deadly mechanical soldiers from a neighbouring kingdom who have been terrorising their lands. If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but they must survive a long journey through enemy territory to reach Anuket City. And Slate has her own reasons to dread returning to her former home.
Slate and her crew aren? t the first to be sent on this mission. None of their predecessors have returned, and Slate can? t help but feel they? ve exchanged one death sentence for another. Her increasing closeness to Caliban isn? t helping matters: for the first time in a long time, Slate might actually care about surviving.
