If someone had told the junior keeper of knowledge and closest relative of the Lord of the Dark Forest that he would be sent on an almost hopeless mission to the Gray Reaches, he would not have believed it. For a dark elf, this is certain death. But an order is an order, and Linnuviel lerre L'aerte goes to the most terrible place on Liara in the hope that he will not be eaten by wild Khmers on the way, vampire mockingbirds will not drink him dry, and the owner of those places, who once abdicated the Dark Elven throne, won't kill him as soon as he sees him. However, Linnuviel does not yet know that persuading Lord Torriel to return to the Dark Forest is only half the battle. It is much more difficult to survive a meeting with the Guardians of the Gray Limits. Or rather, with the Hounds... and to be absolutely precise, then with the one and only Hound, a meeting with which may be the last for the guardian.