The High Priestess interprets the wishes of the god as conveyed through the Oracle. Mirany serves the High Priestess. But when the god speaks to Mirany, she realizes that the High Priestess does not hear him, that she is manipulating the choosing of a new God-on-Earth for her own gain. Mirany must join forces with Seth, a young tomb-robbing scribe who knows the secrets and hidden passages of their land, if she is to defeat the treachery that grips the kingdom. But they have powerful enemies who will stop at nothing to destroy them.

The fate of his world rests in his hands Young Alexos is now officially the Archon. But political corruption and a deadly drought still tear at the heart of the Two Lands. Together with his friends Mirany, Seth, and Oblek, Alexos sets out to save his people. He realizes that the key lies at the Well of Songs—a place from which no one has ever returned. With only an ancient map written on a silver sphere to guide him, Alexos must embark on his perilous journey to right an ancient wrong, before it is too late.

How will their struggle end? Madness reigns in the Two Lands. General Argelin has proclaimed himself king and is systematically destroying all enemies—humans . . . and gods. Mirany, the young priestess, is in hiding. Alexos, the boy who should be ruler, is powerless. Seth and the Jackal are scrambling to gather a small group of resisters without attracting notice from Argelin—or from the sinister power he now controls in the sign of the scarab. Their last hope lies in the Underworld. Mirany can lead their journey into death, but can she bring them back?