strange being caught in a trap – one of the Sithi, a race thought to be mythical, or at least
long-vanished. The cotsman returns, but before he can kill the helpless Sitha, Simon strikes
him down. The Sitha, once freed, stops only long enough to fire a white arrow at Simon,
then disappears. A new voice tells Simon to take the white arrow, that it is a Sithi gift.
The dwarfish newcomer is a troll named Binabik, who rides a great gray wolf. He tells
Simon he was only passing by, but now he will accompany the boy to Naglimund. Simon
and Binabik endure many adventures and strange events on the way to Naglimund: they
come to realize that they have fallen afoul of a threat greater than merely a king and his
counselor deprived of their prisoner. At last, when they find themselves pursued by
unearthly white hounds who wear the brand of Stormspike, a mountain of evil reputation in
the far north, they are forced to head for the shelter of Geloë’s forest house, taking with
them a pair of travelers they have rescued from the hounds. Geloë, a blunt-spoken forest
woman with a reputation as a witch, confers with them and agrees that somehow the
ancient Norns, embittered relatives of the Sithi, have become embroiled in the fate of
Prester John’s kingdom.
Pursuers human and otherwise threaten them on their journey to Naglimund. After
Binabik is shot with an arrow, Simon and one of the rescued travelers, a servant girl, must
struggle on through the forest. They are attacked by a shaggy giant and saved only by the
appearance of Josua’s hunting party.
The prince brings them to Naglimund, where Binabik’s wounds are cared for, and
where it is confirmed that Simon has stumbled into a terrifying swirl of events. Elias is
coming soon to besiege Josua’s castle. Simon’s serving-girl companion was Princess
Miriamele traveling in disguise, fleeing her father, whom she fears has gone mad under
Pryrates’ influence. From all over the north and elsewhere, frightened people are flocking
to Naglimund and Josua, their last protection against a mad king.
Then, as the prince and others discuss the coming battle, a strange old Rimmersman
named Jarnauga appears in the council’s meeting hall. He is a member of the League of
the Scroll, a circle of scholars and initiates of which Morgenes and Binabik’s master were
both part, and he brings more grim news. Their enemy, he says, is not just Elias: the king is
receiving aid from Ineluki the Storm King, who had once been a prince of the Sithi – but
who has been dead for five centuries, and whose bodiless spirit now rules the Norns of
Stormspike Mountain, pale relatives of the banished Sithi.
It was the terrible magic of the gray sword Sorrow that caused Ineluki’s death – that,
and mankind’s attack on the Sithi. The League of the Scroll believes that Sorrow has been
given to Elias as the first step in some incomprehensible plan of revenge, a plan that will
bring the earth beneath the heel of the undead Storm King. The only hope comes from a
prophetic poem that seems to suggest that “three swords” might help turn back Ineluki’s
powerful magic.
One of the swords is the Storm King’s Sorrow, already in the hands of their enemy,
King Elias. Another is the Rimmersgard blade Minneyar, which was also once at the
Hayholt, but whose whereabouts are now unknown. The third is Thorn, black sword of
King John’s greatest knight, Sir Camaris. Jarnauga and others think they have traced it to a
location in the frozen north. On this slim hope, Josua sends Binabik, Simon, and several
soldiers off in search of Thorn, even as Naglimund prepares for siege.
Others are affected by the growing crisis. Princess Miriamele, frustrated by her uncle
Josua’s attempts to protect her, escapes Naglimund in disguise, accompanied by the
mysterious monk Cadrach. She hopes to make her way to southern Nabban and plead with
her relatives there to aid Josua. Old Duke Isgrimnur, at Josua’s urging, disguises his own
very recognizable features and follows after to rescue her. Tiamak, a swamp-dwelling
Wrannaman scholar, receives a strange message from his old mentor Morgenes that tells of