With a killer on the loose, the tribal Thanes put on a gathering to elect a new leader of the Shieldlands. Beowulf feels the pressure as he knows he has to catch the perpetrator. Rheda's enemy is closer to home then she first believed.

The fate of the Shieldlands is decided in Herot's Great Hall as judgement day arrives and a new leader is chosen. Rheda has to prove herself worthy to become the ruler of all the Shieldlands, whilst been aware of the turmoil between the tribes and the ever-present threat of a civil war.