Roland decides to return to Nice and gain Tigre an audience with King Faron and leaves Durendal in his care. Elen receives a message from Vanadis Alexandra Alshavin asking for her assistance in dealing with another Vanadis who is invading her territory. Elen departs taking Lim and part of her army with her. Sofy also departs, but Rurick chooses to stay with Tigre. Meanwhile, when Roland arrives in Nice and demands a hearing he is killed by Ganelon. Roland's death upsets even Thenardier, but he is distracted when Ganelon informs him that an army of 20,000 men from the kingdom of Muozinel is invading Brune. Thenardier takes a third of his men to face the invaders and sends the remainder to the capital to counter Ganelon. On hearing of the invasion and the people taken as slaves, Tigre decides to face the invaders, despite being outnumbered 10 to 1. While scouting the enemy, Tigre and Rurick save a girl, Regin, from some Muozinel soldiers. Tigre's force wipes out the invaders with hit-and-run tactics. In response, General Cashim executes some of the slaves. Tigre leads his main force against the Muozinel vanguard and kills Cashim, which breaks the invaders' morale. Gerard Augre informs Tigre that despite suffering few casualties, their supplies are starting to run low, and that the retreating Muozinel soldiers are joining an even larger invading force, which will number 40,000 in mere days. Tigre leads some of his riders to meet the Mouzinel cavalry and is unexpectedly reinforced by the arrival of Mila and her army.