Yesterday's foundling, now the magician-demonologist Ned Cherny, has serious problems. His former wife Sanda became queen, but was poisoned by her enemies and fell asleep for centuries. To awaken her, you need to obtain a substance contained in the dragon's venom. But even successfully awakening the queen will not relieve Ned of other problems. One of them, named Amela, is not even eighteen years old, but she is in love with a former foundling and is ready to do anything to become his wife, the wife of a powerful magician who is clearly not up to it yet. Enemies from the secret brotherhood of Shirduan are not asleep, they are building again their intrigues, and Ned and a group of associates set off on a journey in search of an antidote. And ancient knowledge, mysterious artifacts of a vanished civilization, hidden in the abandoned cities of the Creators, await Ned and his companions. The fourth novel in the “Ned” series.