When the masters of elemental magic'-six extraordinary men and women-'merge the primal forces they represent, the ultimate sorcerous union comes to be: The Blending. Lorand, Rion, Vallant, Tamrissa, Jovi . . . and Naran, possessor of the newly discovered prescient power of Sight, came together to wrest a beleaguered empire from the strangling graspof treacherous nobles and to save it from the savagery of invading armies. Now it is the benevolent Six who reign, and the common people have found a voiceat last. But now the Ruling Blending are ensconcedin the bloodthirsty arena of politics-'where theirmagicks may hold no sway.
In the roiling waters of the ruling court, the hungry sharks are swimming. Across foreign borders, sinister plots are being hatched to conquer the fledgling republic. But there is a dark, hidden enemy growing ever-stronger amidst the riot of traitorous schemes and secret intrigues'a terrible malevolence which, when it reaches the peak of its power, will wreak havoc upon an unsuspecting empire . . . and on everything and everyone beyond.