The second book in the Magistricide series. Tannigal is in flames, destroyed by the frenzy-inducing songs of the inhuman bard Tamrel. Kelrob, a young magician of great promise but limited experience, flees the city's ruin alongside his companions: Jacobson, a weary mercenary whose body has become Tamrel's vessel, and Nuir, the sheltered but willful daughter of a great merchant-lord. Their destination is the house of Madame Heretia, a disgraced archmage...