The third volume of the Lyonesse trilogy, which received the award for the world's best work in the fantasy genre, draws our attention to Maduk, thrown by the fairies and taken by Casmir for his granddaughter, the daughter of Princess Suldrun. Unlike Princess Suldrun, who only passively resisted the intolerable rules of the castle of Haidion, Maduk smartly defends herself - in particular, she throws rotten fruit. Enraged by her mischief, King Casmir announces a competition, promising to marry her to the winner, but Maduk has other plans - she recruits a stable boy nicknamed “Sir Pom-Pom” as an escort and fearlessly sets out in search of her real father. On their travels, they encounter swindlers, fairies, trolls, ogres and an old man in search of his lost youth, as well as a nondescript and slightly chipped kitchen item called the “Grail”. As the wizards Shimrod and Murgen study the omens of a cataclysm poised to revolutionize the magical world, King Casmir plans an assassination that will allow him to rule with an iron fist over the united states of all the Elder Isles; However, the satisfaction of his grandiose ambitions is complicated by one subtle but significant oversight - he forgot to take into account the existence of Maduk!