The time is a far distant future, one and a half millennia after the collapse of our own civilisation. Nicholas Raspero, the possessor of wandlore secrets, has arrived in New Landern. Through his skills with the wand he is almost immediately drawn into the underworld - and into the web of the beautiful heiress Isabel Grangeshield. 'Nicholas stood under the shelter of a marble war monument, his hand on the hilt of his wand, exulting in the drama of the moment; Angela plied her trade with her current client, half-naked by a roaring fire, while pretending to laugh before the background of the...