First in the internationally popular Black Magician Trilogy. Award-winning author. Each year, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city streets of vagrants. They know that no ordinary lowlife can oppose them. But their protective shield is not as impenetrable as they think. Somea, angry, frustrated and outraged by the treatment of her family and friends, throws a stone at the shield, putting all her rage behind it. She is amazed when it sails unrestricted through the barrier and knocks a magician unconscious. The Guilds worst fear has been realised ...there is an untrained magician loose in Imardin who must be found before her uncontrolled powers can destroy herself and the city ...The first part of the Black Magician Trilogy, this captivating tale has already been hailed by critics as a must for lovers of good fantasy. Marie Claire. A wonderfully and meticulously detailed world, and an edge-of-the-seat plot Jennifer Fallon, author of Medalon