Dark days lie ahead for Drinnglennin. Urlion Konigur's increasingly unstable mind heightens the urgency to name his heir. His realm is divided and ripe for invasion, and Aetheor Yarl of Helgrinia, emboldened by conquests in Gral, has set his sights once more on the vulnerable Isle. Master Morgan is among the many who hope the High King will announce his chosen successor at the Twyrn in Drinnkastel, to which Maura and Leif, newly dragonfast, have been summoned. But Morgan cannot protect his young charges in the capital, for he has vowed to find Urlion's enchanter and the whereabouts of the missing å Livåri. Meanwhile, Whit, left in Mithralyn to hone his magic without Morgan's guidance, grows increasingly bitter toward the wizard, while Halla faces a betrayal that will test her courage to its limits. And far to the north, the rift is widening between those dragons who would bind, and those who would, through murder and mayhem, destroy the very fabric of mankind. These unfolding perils will resound to the very borders of the Known World. For in the Lost Lands, the dark wizard, Lazdac Strigori, is on the rise.