In the world of the Maple Leaf, magic - true speech - was given to people by the Creator and it is controlled by the Church. The church accepts those who have been given the gift of the creator into its service. Having completed his training, the magician receives a new name and certificate. So the rootless Oris, endowed with the gift of seeing the truth, turned into the gramard and noble gift of Maurice Yolder. By force of circumstances, the young magician finds himself in the distant city of Seshale, the Abode of St. Yolm, where mysterious, bloody murders take place. A local holy fool says that he saw a terrible beast in the forest, the offspring of the Unclean Hutt, the cursed god of the beast people. The mysterious brotherhood of Eolith gives the newly minted dar Yolder the first task - to track down and catch the beast, but Oris does not believe in the monster, he is sure that behind the murders it is not an ancient superstition, but a person.