Apprentice Storyteller Cormac aspires only to become a Master of Lore, but when he receives the news that he has been chosen of the sword, he is stunned to realize that the future of the world rests on his shoulders. Moreover, the sword gives him absolute power. If he is not able to master it, the sword will master him, turning him into one who lives only to kill. As the one who awakened the sword, Princess Orianna of the Seven Families must attend Cormac in his quest. Coming from the courts of Rivershome, she finds herself mortified to wait on a rustic nobody. Now she must deal with her control over him.