When the clans of the Western Kingdom gather for the Beltane festival, none expect more than a peaceful celebration led by the druids: priests and holy men to the tribes of Eire since antiquity. But forces gather, intent on destroying their way of life. King Curros, a northern warlord, is poised to attack, aided by the dark magic of the immortal Golsheth.
The western clans relish their independence. Golsheth plans to enslave them all, and use them in his secret rites. The West desperately needs magic to counter Golsheth, and Prince Lathel is their best, if unlikely, hope - but there's a problem. Thrown out of druid training because of his sidhe ancestry, Lathel is left with a hole in his mind and his magical talent crippled: all leading to a deepened rift with his family.
The druids fear the wild magic of the forest-dwelling sidhe, and Lathel's father, the warrior-king Kassnor, hates the sidhe, and all magic. Even so, Prince Lathel is determined to win back Kassnor's favour.
Lathel's world is thrown into further chaos when the sidhe envoy to the Beltane feast, the mysterious Carathnie, is revealed to be King Kassnor's own sister. Why does his father despise the sidhe if he shares the same blood? This is only the first revelation in a web of secrets that Lathel must untangle before Curros's vast northern armies, and Golsheth's deadly magic, sees the West in flames.