When Diana has a bout of depression, I-Ching suggests she visit her mother on Paradise Island. She mentally contacts Queen Hippolyte, who sends Leda, an Amazon messenger, to her plane. Leda intends to take herself and Diana back to the dimension in which Paradise Island now exists, but their journey goes awry and they end up on the world of Chalandor, battling black-hued beings called Shadowmen. They manage to defeat the Shadowmen with the help of a rising moon, whose light the beings cannot bear. But, moments afterward, a Chalandorian craft lands and its crew intend to bring both Amazons back to their arena to fight as gladiatrixes. Diana orders Leda to return to Paradise Island to get help, while she fights the Chalandorians. She is finally overpowered and brought before the queen. There she meets a fellow captive, a barbarian called Ranagor. Diana attacks the Queen and her guards, trying to free herself and Ranagor, but she is once again defeated and imprisoned with her new barbarian friend. Both end up in the arena facing the gnarth, a vicious beast, but they destroy it. Then they fight their way out of the arena to a tall tower, where they sight an army across a river. Ranagor reveals that he is the prince of North Ambria, and the troops are those of his father, who hopes to oust the villainous queen of this realm. Both jump into the river from the tower and are rescued by the North Ambrian troops.
