In 1998, Steven Brust's hugely popular Vlad Taltos fantasy adventure series, the previous volumes of which had all appeared as paperback originals, finally moved to hardcover with the publication of Dragon, which went on to be Brust's bestselling hardcover. Now Brust returns to the world of Vlad for a swashbuckling tale that sheds long-delayed light on the very fundamentals of Dragaera and its origins. Vlad Taltos, a sometimes assassin currently on the run from his former associates, is tracked down in his jungle hideout by a most improbable party: Lady Teldra, the infinitely charming chatelaine of Castle Black. Teldra has come to enlist Vlad's help. His friends Morrolan e'Drien and Aliera e'Kieron have vanished, and neither sorcery nor telepathy can find them. Vlad once rescued Morrolan and Aliera from the realm of the Gods. That was hard enough. But now it looks like Morrolan and Aliera are in the hands of the Jenoine: those inscrutable and immeasurably powerful beings who long ago were the makers of Dragaers and the masters of its gods.