Six years after a conflict that extinguished all mage-light, Eiden Myr is in chaos. Wild weather destroys crops; drought bakes some regions while others are flooded; mountains quake, poisoned rivers rise; disease and pestilence spread.

In a dying trader town, three little girls fight to protect a secret that could cost them their lives, while a young lad-of-all-crafts finds that local murders are the first clue to a chilling conspiracy. In the far north, the remnants of the realm's warders struggle to compensate for mage-light's loss. In the south, a military race is remembering its origins. Along the shoreline, a band of guerilla fighters, posted to repel invasion, prepares to battle for mastery of the realm -- while one woman, a disgraced soldier, summons the courage to defy them all.

And on a remote island, a new breed of scholar strives to plumb the mysteries of ancient texts before they crumble and before the realm crumbles for want of the knowledge they contain.

Who among them is the binder destined to reshape the shattered world?