In the land of Vonahr the Exalted rule supreme, with absolute control over the peasants on the land. But the magical powers of the Exalted have been fading for generations - only a few now can create more than the most superficial illusions. All over Vonahr, revolt is in the air as seditionists fulminate against the tyranny, greed and corruption of the Exalted. Eliste is the pampered young daughter of Marquis vo Derrivalle. Her arrival in Vonahr's glittering capital to be a maid of honour to the Queen is the peak of her adolescent dreams. But the capital is ready to explode and when it does, the old order is brutally overthrown. Eliste becomes a fugitive, alone and penniless in the foul underworld of the capital. Whyss Valeur leads the revolutionaries, reviving ancient machines of magic that will detect any of the Exalted attempting to leave the city and which will spy on the populace by means of tiny metallic flying insects; and the most terrible machine of all, the Kokotte, the devourer of enemies of the people. Then Whyss Valeur's bloodlust becomes crazed and uncontrollable...Cover art by David Farren.