In the wake of their defeat of Pagin of Karsten, the Witches of Estcarp await news of those who have been lost or gone missing since the battle, and a young Sulcar woman awakens to her Power - only to do battle with an ancient evil.

They are two strangers whose people have been at war for a millennium.Mereth, a Dales trader, crosses the sea to Estcarp and the archivalcitadel at Lormt, seeking clues to the fate of a missing heirloom, anancient jewel of Power. At the same time, an Alizonder hound lord, Kasarian, finds that an ancestor's key opens a magic gate to distant Lormt.
Alizonders are wolfish tyrants who fight with sadistic poisons and feedfallen leaders to their dogs,...