Collects nine fantasy stories from twentieth-century American writer Peter S. Beagle, and features the title selection, along with " The Stickball Witch," "The Unicorn Tapestries," and others.

In the land of Eileanan, Isault and Lachlan join forces to uncover the identity of a spy who has compromised their tactical secrets, while Isabeau the witch struggles to find her true purpose in life and reach the Skull of the World in order to listen to the silent words of the White Gods.

Apprenticed to the Most High Academe of Sanctaphrax, a floating city of scholars, gossip, and treachery, fourteen-year-old Quint runs increasingly dangerous errands, which eventually bring him to a place of gruesome monsters that threaten his life and those of his friends.

Else, a Praman warrior-spy, begins to question his faith, his country, everything he knows when he is sent into the heart of the enemy, the Patriarchs of the West, as they prepare for a crusade against his brethren.

Kieli, the only survivor of the massacre of Midkemia, is raised by his rescuers for the express purpose of seeking revenge against the armies of the Duke of Olasko, not knowing that his friends--Robert de Lyis, a man of wealth and power, the sorcerer Magnus, and Caleb, an accomplished hunter and warrior--have a secret agenda.

Tal Hawkins, the only survivor of the massacre of his village, is raised by the Conclave of Shadows, a mysterious order of magicians and spies, for the express purpose of avenging the slaughter of his family and friends, but he faces a soul-wrenching decision when he sets out to accomplish his mission to kill the Duke of Olasko by posing as nobleman from a distant kingdom, and is challenged to prove his allegiance to his enemy.

Karigan G'ladheon, now an experienced member of the Green Riders, the magical messenger corps of the King of Sacoridia, has succeeded in transporting the evil spirit of Mornhaven into the future, buying time for the protective D'Yer Wall to be repaired, but with everyone concentrating on keeping tainted magic from the Blackveil Forest out of Sacoridia, they failed to notice a threat much closer to home.

As the Speck plague ravages the King's Cavalla of Gernia, his troops are forced to relinquish their military ambitions and face lives of dependency and disappointment, except for cadet Nevare Burvelle, who survived the plague and made an astonishing recovery and returns to his ancestral home, where he is haunted by his memories.

Church, Ruth, Ryan, Laura, and Shavi, continuing their attempt to save mankind by stopping a war between good and evil creatures, team up with a man from the mist of time and learn that the fate of humans looks grim.

In the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha'ik and her followers prepare for the long-prophesied uprising that will embroil the Malazan Empire in one of the bloodiest conflicts it has ever known.