Becoming Nevery's servant and then his apprentice, Conn becomes embroiled in his master's plan to save Wellmet, a city whose magic is slowly dying.Intrepid Conn's search for his own locus magicalicus and his plight to save the magic takes him from the bowels of the city to the regal heights of the duchesses palace. He finds in Nevery a reluctant but well-meaning mentor and, in the burly manservant Benet, a friend like none he had on the streets (and a great deal of hot buttered biscuits). But can Conn keep the magic alive without falling into the clutches of the sinister Underlord, Crowe?