Narle’s ring pulses a warning. Alone in the desert, the apprentice magician discovers a small figure standing beside a smoldering wagon. Splat! Laan crushes a doomflyer with a burning wheel spoke. More ravenous hunters plummet downward. Narle draws on his meager store of magic and drives off the birds. Having saved Laan, a reluctant healer, he joins her courageous attempt to find the members of her trade caravan. Pursued by a deadly creature of mist and magic, they race across the punishing desert toward Black Valley where the menacing magician Eklet awaits their arrival.