As the armies of the Verenthane faithful mass for war in the Bacosh, Sasha and her companions head for Tracato, capital city of the Bacosh province of Rhodaan. For two hundred years Tracato has been the centre of enlightenment, as the serrin have occupied human lands and sought to remake humanity anew. But the serrin have not destroyed Rhodaan's feudal families entirely, and as Tracato faces the greatest threat to its survival in two centuries, old rivalries are stirring. Sasha must assist her mentor Kessligh to strengthen the Tracato Nasi-Keth, yet with one royal sister siding with the feudalists, and another soon to be married to Tracato's most powerful foe, her loyalties are agonisingly divided. Worse still, from Sasha's homeland the Army of Lenayin are marching to make war upon Tracato. Can she fight her own people? Or must she join them, and fight not only her lover Errollyn, but to extinguish the brightest light of hope in all the land - serrin civilisation itself?
