(The dame): Bransen Garibond, the Highwayman, held little real interest in the supremacy battles between the two most powerful lairds of Honce. To him the warring lairds were two sides of the same coin. Whichever side won, the outcome for the people of Honce would be the same, Bransen believed. A journey north, however, taught Bransen that his views were simplistic at best, and that some things--like honor and true friendship--might truly matter.(The bear): The war of Honce drags on, and the roads and seas are littered with bodies. Trapped, Dame Gwydre and Father Artolivan concoct a desperate plot to join forces with Laird Ethelbert and Bransen seeks to extricate himself from the selfish goals of all the combatants, including his old nemesis, Bannagran--the Bear of Honce and the man who slew his adoptive father.