The Vli had always avoided contact with the other races mutated from the World"s original settlers. Few foreigners knew the truth behind the rumors about the liliths, the veiled and hooded Vli priestesses. Then one day a Vli ship on a diplomatic mission crossed the Island Sea, carrying to Falnerescu the first lilith ever to leave her island home. To Salas Tarag, human sea captain and adventurer upon the Island Sea, the mystery of the lilith was a challenge he could not resist. So he hatched a plan to meet her face to face. But then the lilith disappeared, and Tarag was catapulted into a daring quest to save himself-- and his ship-- and to rescue the lilith, who fast was learning that life on the Island Sea was far more complex than ever she imagined.