The fierce battles between the Knights Ransomer and the desert-dwelling Sharai have come to the mysterious, folded land of Surayon—whose borders are accessible for the first time in forty years. But this clash is playing into the hands of the inhuman creatures who hold the real power here: the cryptic djinni, the shapeshifting 'ifrit—who kill without reason unless stopped by a specially blessed blade—and the fearsome ghûl.

Many will die, before the survivors from all sides gather to march into the palace on the Mount of Ascariel. Here at last they will confront the King—who will be not at all what they were expecting.