The Knights have increased in number, and the peasantry of Marvenda own either Mage or Knight: but Galan desires to be of neither. The Mages will not tolerate free men, and so they go again to war, to exterminate their rivals the Knights, once merely part of the same Order of Marvenda. Calling up black lava, they not only destroy the Knights but Marvenda. The last Knight, Galan and a Mage go into the west to seek the Child concealed in spells who holds the key to the peace of Marvenda. But to unlock him, they will need a honeycomb of pure gold, the myrrh of the Underkeeper with which he annoints the Dead, and the Censer of the Franken which holds fire stolen from heaven. And when they obtain these, to pass the deciets of the Valley, the Dragon of Eld is compelled to send his heart before them like a star in the air. But at the end, the Father of Dragons waits, to consume the Child he has long hunted....