In the kingdom of Odell, Elspeth, youngest child of Lord Osric of Locke Keep, has no casting permit; her only task is keeping the ditches clear. When her sister Catrin flees her husband, border warden Torsten Voss, and begs for sanctuary, Osric sends her back, and a bolt silences her before she can testify. Elspeth is collared as surety for that same marriage contract, but her mother Mairi helps her escape and pays for it in chains. Trained in secret by Aldren, grandmaster of the Cairn League, she returns on the day of the Final Tide Festival, where Mairi invokes an ancient ordeal and endures three deadly blows to open the contest to the unlicensed. Her power is exposed; she takes the keep key from her father and drags Voss before the crowd, but her victory summons Severin, the dark mage Aldren once exiled, who lives on borrowed strength. With Aldren poisoned and the keep collapsing, she opens the ninth gate, faces Chulong, the first dragon, and refuses to put a collar on it.
