""It was a nightmare," Robin said. "A--a vision, Your Highness. There was a man drowning in clouds...when I touched him, I saw things, things he'd seen, things he knew." "What things?" I asked. Robin took a deep breath. "They've taken the baroness." "Who? Where?" "Enemies," she said simply. "He didn't know where. There was a dead woman..."" Maurey, the half human, half Nightwalker Warden of Greyrock, and Annot, the dauntless Baroness of Oakhold, have settled down in Greyrock Castle, but those who still hate and fear the Nightwalkers threaten to destroy all they've worked for. While Maurey hunts for two outlaws who may guard an ancient secret, his liegeman Korby begins to uncover the truth about the cult of the Yehillon. Their enemies are always one step ahead of them though. Captured by the Yehillon and held as a hostage against Maurey, Annot struggles to survive and escape. A terrible choice lies before Maurey. If he abandons his defence of the border to save Annot, all Talverdin may fall as the Yehillon, led by their veiled prince, finally carry out a long-laid plan to wipe the warlocks from the face of the earth. "If one book has shaped what I think a book should do and what literature should be," K.V. Johansen says, "it is "Lord of the Rings."" As Tolkien was, she is thorough in her research as she creates other worlds for her stories. Readers will find themselves richly rewarded. Johansen, who has a master's degree in Medieval Studies, lives in a bit of another world herself; she grows exotic trees indoors and seedling oaks and apples outdoors in what used to be the vegetable garden and hopes some day to have her very own forest, because both the house and the yard are getting rather crowded.