Thorn learns there is more to her heritage than just being a princess. She is the Veni-Yan-Cari, the Awakened One, attune to both the material world and the dreaming world. In her dreams, she is menaced by the Lord of the Locusts, who seeks her power. The Lord of the Locusts: hooded servant has assembled an army of rat creatures and the men of Pawa and is preparing to break the truce and attack Thorn's valley Meanwhile, Phoney Bone preys on the fears of the inhabitants of Barrelhaven, casting himself as a dragonslayer in a scheme to win his bet with Lucious Down and escape the valley with the villagers' wealth.