Magic, passion and complicity abound in this dramatic sequel to the successful fantasy epic Fortress in the Eye of Time. The wizard Mauryl Gestaurien cast his greatest spell to create Tristen, the grey-eyed youth with strange powers. Mauryl's death sent the innocent Tristen out into the world, where he is protected by a strange glamour -- and befriended by Prince Cefwyn, heir to the Marhanen throne. Armed with a book of spells he cannot read and a magic sword bearing the words "Truth" on one side and "Illusion" on the other, Tristen rides into battle for Cefwyn against the Shadow spawned by Hasufin, Mauryl's greatest enemy. Now king, Cefwyn's two great plans are to marry Ninevrise, the beautiful Lady Regent of lwynor, and to reunite Ylesuin, the land known in its former glory as Galasien. But even as his wedding approaches, his dreams grow unattainable. His barons want to control him, and they fear Tristen's powers. At Cefwyn's urging, Tristen hides himself, his powers and his sword. As war inevitably draws nearer, Cefwyn may be forced to choose between his friend and his bride. But as a sorcerer created by the last of the Old Wizards, Tristen alone possesses the ancient magic that can save King Cefwyn -- and the kingdom itself -- from certain destruction by Cefwyn's enemies.