Sir Thomas' son, Armus, returns from 8 years at the Crusades and the Greys journey to the Duke of Arondale's castle to pay their taxes, but there they are attacked by a group of bandits and held hostage along with Mullens and his daughter.

Eleanor is smitten with a handsome thief after she encounters him seemingly robbing from the rich to give to the poor. Meanwhile, Richard and Armus offer to train Cedric for an upcoming tournament in order to make sure that he will lose and thus become discouraged about becoming a knight and resume his path to a monastic life.