At the centre of goblin society is The Dance, the spiritual exaltation of life itself which is central to the goblins' existence. In the human world above, life is austere and goblins only a myth. When Count Anton is drawn into the rhythm of The Dance, a clash between two worlds is about to begin... Haghuf, respected elder among the unseen goblins, has only scorn for humans. Yet he is drawn into friendship with a human aristocrat by the Dance, the celebration of life that holds the goblin society together. Count Anton—human, magician, shapeshifter—rules the human world above. When an unwitting human wanders accidentally into the caverns, a series of events is set into motion that will lead him to betray his loyalty to his own people to avoid a war that the humans cannot possibly win. Hunted by humans who feel he has betrayed them by his friendship with the goblins, and unwelcome in the goblin world where all humans are considered the enemy, he will be thrown into a deeper world, where even the goblins have reason to be afraid.