Aided by the goddess Aphrael, Sparhawk and his band of companions have recovered the magical jewel Bhelliom – the Sapphire Rose – from the cave of the troll-dwarf Ghwerig. Now they have the power to wake and cure Ehlana, the young Queen of Elenia.

But while they were seeking Bhelliom, great forces of evil moved into the power vacuum left behind. The unholy triple alliance between Otha, degenerate sorcerer-king of the Zemochs, the renegade Pandion Knight Martel, and Annias, traitorous Primate of Cimmura, threatens to overrun all of Eosia. In returning to Cimmura to wake Ehlana, Sparhawk risks delivering the Sapphire Rose into the hands of his enemies, who will use it to give the evil god Azash dominion over the whole world.

To stop them they may have to unleash the full power of the jewel, but no one can predict whether the world itself will survive such an event.