Ironhand takes place two years after the events chronicled in Almuric. Having defeated the bat winged Yagas, with the combined forces of the (male hominid) Gura tribes, Esau Cairn has been ruling as king from the city of Koth. His modern human mate, Altha, is well along, expecting their first child any day. The old king, Kossuth Skullsplitter, acts as Ironhand’s second in command. Cairn has come back to the city after a successfully abundant hunt to bolster the city’s food stores and that evening, a celebratory dinner is held in the palace. Unfortunately, Ironhand is blind to the fact that there is discontent among the populace; the nobles of the city hoard the meat rations brought in from those forays, leaving the majority of the city’s inhabitants to fend for themselves. Add to this the fact that Kossuth and his peers have reinstituted the tradition of slavery (especially with regards to female captives from other parts of the planet that were freed from Yaga captivity). During the celebration, Cairn receives word that an unknown force has killed the majority of Kothan guards stationed at the Girdle; a steep mountain shelf bisecting the northern and southern hemispheres. Upon hearing the news, Ironhand, leaving Kossuth in charge, bids his wife farewell, musters his troops and is southbound to investigate. When the company arrives at the base of the Girdle, they discover that the dead guards bear no signs of bodily violence or struggle; it seems that they just fell over, dead. Ironhand cajoles his superstitious men into scaling the rock face of the Girdle, with him in the lead. When he arrives at the summit, he is presented with the giant holographic visage of Professor Hildebrand, the man responsible for sending Cairn to Almuric. Hildebrand warns Ironhand to turn back and when he refuses, the hologram emits a psychic blast, causing extreme pain to the climbers, who proceed to fall to their deaths. Cairn barely survives the fall, landing on several bodies of his troops; half dead, he rides back to Koth. Upon his arrival at the palace, he finds that Altha has died during childbirth and that Kossuth has usurped Ironhand and reclaimed the throne for himself. Stripped of all that he holds dear, fighting his way through his enemies, Cairn narrowly escapes the city with his life.

Ironhand confirms his worst fear; he has fled to the Kothan open air garden of the dead, where he finds the remains of Altha and the newborn child. In an act of desperation, Cairn is about to commit suicide, until he hears a cry for help. In the distance, being chased by armed Kothans, he sees a copper skinned woman fleeing for her life. Ironhand intervenes, killing the Kothans and saving the woman; she introduces herself as Wynnea, from a tribe south of the Girdle, one of the pleasure slaves kept by Kossuth. Cairn recognizes her as a dancer from the royal court. Her plan is to return home to the southern hemisphere; she knows of an alternate way across the Girdle, a path that is not guarded by the hologram. Ironhand agrees to accompany her on the journey. An underground river and cavern system exists running through the mountain barrier. Cairn and Wynnea make their way through the labyrinthine subterranean river system, onto the planet’s southern hemisphere. During the trip through the Girdle, the two become lovers (so much for Cairn’s mourning period). Upon entering the lower half of the planet, they are set upon by a single Yaga male. The solitary Yaga was sent to kill Ironhand by order of his mother, Queen Yasmeena, who was presumed dead (along with the entirety of her race), at the end of Almuric. The two men commence fighting and the Yaga takes to the air, ascending quickly, with Ironhand clutched to his back. The combatants trade blows high above the surface, each trying to gain the upper hand, when Cairn gets hold of the Yaga’s wing and the two men plummet to the ground. Fortune favors Ironhand yet again, with the Yaga breaking his fall. Wynnea helps his battered body up, finds a place to shelter for the night and they start the journey to her village the next morning.