Juniper leads the Clan against the troopers, and drives them out of the city. Juniper leads two others to scout round the realm. Sam Aylward leads a gaggle of Mackenzie archers to assist the Bearkillers' raid in opposition to a Protectorate castle, then power the surrender of a second castle. Lady Juniper's off-sider Aylward speaks of a fellow known as Willie, operator of a pub called The Treadmill, speaks of Willie's buddy though she will not be named, she is Modesty Blaise. That is an homage to Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise collection of books. Has he not read Steve Stirling's Dies the Fire collection? Steve Boyett's 1983 novel: Ariel: A Book of the Change, and the subtitle "A Book of the Change" is identical to Ariel's subtitle. Stirling's depiction of feudalism after The Change is similar to Poul Anderson's novella No Truce with Kings. They also discover that some of Junipers mates have survived the Change.