Makenna is a young Hedgewitch, forced to flee her village the day her mother is murdered for practicing magic. In the wilds of the forest, she forms an unexpected alliance with the mysterious goblins, and together they resolve to fight back against the humans and the cruel Decree of Bright Magic. Humans and goblins share the woods for now.

When fourteen-year-old Arisa, aided by Prince Edoran and Weasel, tries to find the long-lost sword, she faces betrayal of the worst kind.

Sick of the horrors of conquering beings on other planets, Ahvrem will end his service as a soldier and save his sister from an unhappy marriage if he can discover who is behind a rumored plot to assassinate the Emperor.

Although the Hrum believe their war against Farsala is nearly over, Soraya has strategic information that will help if she can reach Jiaan and Kavi and their separate resistance movements, but discord and Time's Wheel seem destined to keep them apart.

In alternate chapters, eighteen-year-old Sir Michael Sevenson, an anachronistic knight errant, and seventeen-year-old Fisk, his street-wise squire, tell of their journey to Ruesport, Fisk's home town, to investigate blackmail and a series of suspicious fires.

Someone is trying to sabotage the underwater habitat where Imina, the granddaughter of an Inuit shaman, lives after terrorists have infected the earth's food supply, and Imina must call on her still undeveloped magical skills to save the colony.

In alternate chapters, eighteen-year-old Sir Michael Sevenson, an anachronistic knight errant, and seventeen-year-old Fisk, his street-wise squire, relate their journey to Huckerston, a port town where dangerous bandits are raiding merchant ships.