Stig is contesting the annual Maktig competition to decide Skahdia's greatest warrior. But an unexpected visitor arrives with a request Stig, Hal and the brotherband can't refuse: a rescue mission of epic proportions.
Pirates have kidnapped the son of the Empress of Byzantos, a city-state far to the south. The brotherband sets sail to recover the boy, only to find that the pirates' fortress seems impenetrable, sitting atop towering cliffs above the deep lagoon - the caldera of a volcanic crater.