For a decade and a half, old Bert Dram has crisscrossed the world in his capacity as propmaster for Jacques Paine's famous traveling theater troupe. He has seen sights to gladden the heart and to chill the blood, entertained paupers and princes, encountered magic both bright and dark. But never before has he entered a realm as forbidding as Montravel, a land blasted by evil and brooded over by an improbably vibrant castle. Pascal Demain is the new young court magician at Montravel Keep, charged by King Philip with maintaining the deep energies that support the castle at the expense of the realm. Troubled, he has just begun to question his role in the land's depletion when the troupe of actors appears on the horizon. In the hours to come, Bert and Pascal both will find answers to the question of Jacques Paine's pilgrimage to Montravel-answers they'll wish had remained hidden...