Contikiraud, the chosen one of the gods has been born. Niobe, sister of the emperor and wife of the emperor's favorite general, is the mother. Sending the child to his grandfather, Bezreddyn the Bard, she saves the child's life but puts her own in peril as her husband has demanded she kill the child. making a Faustian bargain with her brother, she, too flees from the capital city and takes refuge in Yndarr, an ancient fabled city, Here, she hatches a plot to take back the four lands of the Renge from the Inquisition and her brother.