A woman receives urgent news that her father, the Duke, is trapped at Death's Pass with thousands of enemy troops blocking the exits. The situation worsens when she learns their entire cavalry has been crippled overnight, their horses mysteriously collapsing. She deduces this was not plague but poisoning by 'bone weed', a southern herb harmless to men but lethal to horses. The poisoned supplies came from the royal quartermaster, who serves the crown prince Kane, revealing a deliberate act of sabotage to target her family. The episode ends with her vowing to reach her father.