Valiant is offered the position of sheriff of Hammerscape shortly before a Moorish pirate fleet ransacks a neighboring village. Arn sends Bryant while calling Gawain and his troops, but Bryant arrives not knowing to carry a torch just before Hammerscape is attacked. Valiant, Rowanne, and the troops succeed in defending the village, but the pompous lord mayor, Murdoch, accuses Bryant as a spy because of the attack's timing and the fact that he is also a Moor. Valiant, forced to uphold the law by giving a trial if only to prove his friend's innocence, and Rowanne and Arn, defending him, learn that the villagers are just as prejudiced. Things take a turn for the worse when the pirate captain Solandre, Bryant's former friend exiled as a traitor, is called to witness and lies that Bryant is in league with him. Valiant must think of a plan to prove the testimony false so Bryant's name will be cleared, but doesn't know the pirates have a real spy in the village.