In that innermost circle of friends to which one only admits a lover, Arenh had never had room for anyone but Mikah. Mikah's innermost circle was somewhat larger than Arenh's-to put it politely-but Arenh had never doubted his friend's loyalty and devotion. The two men were destined to become the rulers of their world. But ruling the world, they learn, is not so difficult as ruling oneself. The story begins in the human colony on the planet Ourdh. Arenh is Lord of the Indigo Clan. Mikah is the Crimson Lord. The villain is Lord Adhalmar of the Emerald Clan---at least, that's what everyone thought at first. Arenh, like all the Lords of the Indigo before him, is telepathic, guided by a mindlink to an invisible race of transtemporal beings called the Dreamers. The Dreamers warn of an imminent attack by the Ourdhu, the indigenous people of the planet. The main threat to the colonists, however, is not the primitive Ourdhu, but treachery within their own ranks. The main concern of Arenh and Mikah is deeper and more personal than that. As Arenh draws Mikah into the mindlink with the Dreamers, they begin to see what the Dreamers mean when they whisper that the things of time are not what they seem.