Eighteen-year-old Princess Gabriella Xavier is the final noble thread in an increasingly dull royal tapestry. As the kingdom of Camelot descends into complacency, an ambitiously sadistic madman known as Merodach advances his rogue armies, recruiting by the sword and threatening revolt... Gabriella is the only one who understands the severity of the threat, but is powerless to convince her father or her brave commoner husband, Darrick. With defeat all but certain, Gabriella sets out on a final, desperate quest. Her plan: to confront and defeat the madman Merodach before his armies can destroy everything she loves. Alone and on foot, she must cross the haunted magical wasteland known as the Tempest Barrens, where she is beset by mutant beasts, capricious magical creatures, and even the walking dead. In the end, wounded and hopeless, Gabriella finally confronts her nemesis and learns his final, horrible secret: he is not alone, and the forces he has allied with are far more powerful than anyone could have imagined.