Diligence was the only daughter of one of the eight kings of the land known as the Wheel -- and of an immortal mother before whose power armies quailed. When earthquakes and raging firestorms threatened to destroy the Wheel, Diligence was dispatched to the side of the mother she had never known -- in exchange for an audience with the all-knowing Dreamwright, who might have the solution to her people"s plight. Mountain boy Hitch had left his native peaks in search of adventure, but he was not prepared to face an unknown world of monsters and magic alone. So he was happy to join the princess"s caravan, glad only of a job and the companionship. But, as Hitch would soon find, this was no ordinary journey. For the way to the palace of the Dreamwright led through lands filled with Wander Men and ramble houses, messengers made of glass, nighthoots and choir-wolves, lands where long-dead warriors refought ancient battles, where foul sorcery and twisted science awaited the unwary . . . and where Hitch and Diligence were the only ones who could make the difference between deliverance and oblivion!