Young Llewelyn is a clerical wizard, one whose power derives not from mere arcane knowledge, but from his symbolic role as a pledged consort of the goddess Hecate. And she is a demanding mistress. After disillusionment in love and in politics, Llewelyn is a disaffected student in a monastery where he has taken refuge, a magician impatient to take on the world. He schemes for revenge and creates a disaster that forces him to leave the monastery and venture again into the wide world. Now, fleeing north to escape the enemy he knows, the Emperor Roguehan, he will encounter new foes, not so easily recognised. He will also meet other wizards and a dragon, befriend a half-elf minstrel, and win the right to claim the throne in the strange land of Gondal. The story opens out into new richness and fantastic adventures.