The levy demands children. The woods hide a dark stranger. Tahsin stands between them.
The sultan has demanded a levy, and Tahsin must fulfill it. He is given a bodyguard who doesn't respect him, a nobleman who outright hates him, and little else in the way of support. The group must travel to the haunted town of Kluv and convince the village to give up their youths to replenish the ranks of the sultan's army. When they arrive, they find the Wallachians have beaten them there. While trying to track the missing children, they find they aren't the only ones looking… a cloaked stranger with his own dark agenda lurks in the woods.