Kiarda lives in a magic-laced land where a war between god and goddess has led to a war among mortals, and where the reconciliation of the immortals has brought wondrous benefits and a 'Joyous Reunion' to the people of both the River and the Marchlands. With their weapons stored away and the learning of the art of warfare now forbidden, peace should be assured for eternity, but even in peacetime there is peril...For this land has become a land unable to defend itself against the arrival of a well-trained foreign army complete with mages who practise the forbidden sixth magic - the magic of destruction. At greatest risk from the invaders are magic-gifted healers and the spirit-linked: those men and women blessed by the gods to be linked with an animal who shares their thoughts, emotions and even physical sensations from birth. These are the people the mages have marked out for annihilation. Kiarda, more closely linked than any other to her spirit fox (for the kit died as she was born leaving its soul nowhere to live but in Kiarda's body) is in more danger than any other of her kind. She and her companions find themselves responsible for warning their people of their peril, but with only one trained warrior in her party, what chance does Kiarda have of saving her world from destruction...