The skies of Arif’s world are filled with danger. Swarms of deadly firestones fill the heavens as they have for more than a century. Unpredictable as they are deadly, the airborne missiles have destroyed every village that had once been part of the proud northern society and reduced the continent to a land of scattered villages and primitive people. Arif, Capran of the Borderlands Clan was no stranger to danger. He forged the Borderlands Clan from a collection of small warring villages and desperate bandits. His coloring and features mark him as a descendent of the legendary Matdavian Barbarians, a race fierce and uncompromising in battle, which has served him well over the years. Now Bhdl, a powerful witch-woman and friend, who is a descendent of the powerful true-blood Mages of the past, has warned him that new dangers are arising in the far north, in the lands their ancestors fled to escape the firestone swarms. Determined, and unbending, she says they must journey to the lost lands and investigate these new perils. The Plague: Arif is already familiar with the deadly illness that has taken the lives of some of his best men and nearly claimed him as well. With no known cure, even witches as powerful as Bhdl are susceptible to this strange illness. Eight of ten inflicted die from the disease, and it is already coming their way. The Well: The source of all known magic in their world, the supposedly indestructible fountain has somehow been damaged, and Bhdl fears that all magic is at risk. Even more than the other dangers, she fears what the loss of the Well will mean to Gifted like herself. The Sor’ee: The non-human enemies of man are reported to have returned. More myth and fact, the Sor’ee almost conquered mankind in the last Great War between the two races. If they have returned as rumored, they might be responsible for whatever has befallen the Well, the one thing that has held them in check for centuries. Facing the Sor’ee without magic would be a frightening prospect. Resolution of these rumors requires the long dangerous journey be attempted, but even Bhdl admits that she has no knowledge that will help them. The old capital of Cha’pol is in ruins and deserted, and the Mages who were responsible for maintaining the Well perished almost a century earlier. They can expect to find few that are even as powerful or as knowledgeable as her. But Arif has his own secret, not shared with others. Despite an almost universal belief that the old true-blood Mages are no more, he knows a few such Mages still exist, and more importantly, where to find them.