The spaceship destroyed, his family murdered, Duncan finds himself stranded on a planet circling Wolf 359. Along with the only other survivor, a beautiful gladiator named Alexis, they encounter a civilization whose past reaches back only 1500 years. Their fortune stumbles from the start when Alexis is immediately forced to fight the nation’s berserker who underestimates his opponent, and pays dearly for it. Yet no sooner is she awarded his position, title, and wealth when she is called upon to lead the nation’s warriors in the first full scale battle she has ever experienced, against an enemy who take no prisoners. With the very real possibility of Alexis never returning, Duncan is left alone to fend for himself. Calling himself a wizard of the universe, he is brought before the Council of Prelates to explain his obvious heresy. Deftly answering their questions, he throws caution to the wind and challenges the nation’s high priest, Vix, to a contest of divine favor. The one who calls down thunder and lightning from the sky is the chosen one of God, and becomes the nation’s high priest. The loser dies. Angry and nervous to be cornered into an arrangement that might reveal his own heresy, Vix quickly decides to preempt the contest by having Duncan murdered. Though he survived a destroyed spaceship, can Duncan now evade assassins? Can he really call down thunder and lightning?

Returning from the dead, Duncan reestablishes control as the nation’s spiritual leader. Sent south to persuade Alexis and the Kingdom’s tarrac to return, he manages instead to drive her farther away, creating a rift between them and in the process, making an enemy - to both himself and Gambria. With the King believed lost at sea, Queen Guina declares him dead and finally marries Father Konrud, the man she truly loves, elevating him to Lord Chamberlain. Yet her throne is far from secure, for events in the south threaten to split the kingdom. Not only is Alexis intent on going her own way, but affairs across the sea in Glanon are suddenly unsettled. Unhappy to have waited so long for his father to die so he can assume the lordship of Glanon, Prince Dade decides to take matters into his own hands and accelerate the process. While Dade consolidates his power, the Castaways succeed in leaving the island only to be trapped in Glanon where Dade discovers the King is not dead. Deciding to use the doddering King as a pawn in his plans to carve out his own kingdom, he reaps the additional benefit of the unexpected arrival of disgraced Father Cattwg who has fled to Glanon after another failed assassination attempt on his nemesis Duncan. Dade recognizes the immediate potential of having his own High Priest and sets course for the coming war.