Stavross D'Vinn is the quintessential young farm boy in love with the prettiest, and richest girl in town. His dark fate is sealed after a harmless prank goes terribly awry and he is expelled from the only home he's ever known. Far to the south, Tynaul and his friends search for the location of the elusive Banereaver, an ancient sword that was once the symbol of power for the Arcanian Sorcerer-Kings. But the Arcanian Empire is crumbling; greed, sloth and corruption are tearing it apart. General Kyrar Lysis foresees this destruction, and launches a desperate plan to save his decaying Empire, a strategy in which these two disparate young men will figure prominently.