Dressed all in black, Jovy, the priest of Adannac, frightened almost as many adults as he did children.
“Pardon me, sir. What gods do you and the lady worship?”
“Why are you asking? What do you want?” Standing in his doorway, Mlaer’s face grew red.
“Well, we all know the lady may not be long for this world, and I just thought you might like for me to say a few nice words for her. You know, when the time comes.” An attempt at a smile simply made Jovy’s hideous face even more frightening.

“She will recover!” With that, Mlaer slammed the door.

Tarna is dying, and none of the magic Mlaer knows can save her. His only hope is to seek out the help of a great healer in a distant land. Mlaer sets off with his friend Eromit on a quest to find the healer, only to discover that the secret to healing Tarna lies in acquiring the star sapphires used to imprison an evil god from a time long past in the lost city of Tardesh. Joined by Firken, the bard, and Bel, from an ancient race of frog-men, can the adventurers overcome attacks by the Man from the Green Forest, the goblins guarding Tardesh, a golem sent to seek revenge for a crime the adventurers did not commit, and the tiger god entrapped by the stolen sapphires in time to save Tarna? And exactly what do Derris and the bluebirds know about the fate of Mlaer and his friends…