The laws of magic have changed-no one knows how or why.
And with that change, new perils have arisen: deadly water
monsters from the depths of the Seven Lakes and a plague
of madness in the desert. In the strongholds of human
safety, anger and greed bloom as nobles and landchiefs
fight for power. Raeshaldis, the only woman formally
trained in the old systems of male magic, allies herself
with the beautiful concubine Summerchild to found the
Circle of the Moon-a motley group of women whose powers
are unknown and unreliable. Faced with an attempt by the
landchiefs to oust the king and with the efforts of her
family to re-enslave her, Raeshaldis must play a deadly
guessing game with untested spells and questionable
allies, while an even more terrible threat awaits…