Sennar is promoted to the Council of Wizards, which leads resistance to the Tyrants in the Lands that are still free, and is sent into the Submerged World, an underwater realm about which very little is known, to request military aid. It is an almost hopeless mission.
Meanwhile, Nihal joins the most illustrious chivalric order of the Surface World, the Knights of the Dragon. She is sent to one of them to complete her training and finds herself up against a determined and valiant gnome, an Oarf called Ido. Her encounter with the Master shakes all Nihal's certainties, suddenly she realizes that there are people in the world who fight for higher ideals than mere revenge. At the same time she is forced to face her mysterious origin and solve the mystery of a stone, Larme, which seems to have tremendous powers.