In Deverry the volatile history of humanity continues as a dashing young king journeys to his throne in disguise, fulfilling an ancient prophecy. In the Westlands the exiled lord Rhodry travels anonymously as a silver dagger-a mercenary-as he did in his youth, following a destiny that will take him from the grassy plains of the elven peoples to the hills and towns of Deverry, where dark forces are gathering. And from the shadowy land of the Guardians come omens, ill-defined and mysterious, that seem to point the way toward cataclysmic war . . .