Lonico is a city ruled by a corrupt over-caste of magi who do anything to maintain their power. They are surrounded by enemies both real and imagined. Many hundreds of years ago the magi sealed their most ancient enemy inside a mountain valley named Laii. This earned the eternal gratitude -- and servitude -- of Lonico's citizens. When some of the Laii break out of their valley prison, they come in a form none of the magi could have imagined . . . The conflict erupts and both city and valley, Lonico and Laii, are pushed to the edge of absolute disaster.