The Age of the Mages is over, and all the secrets of their magical arts are thought to be lost to the world with the passing of Erasmus Flattery, a man of Talent who had served the last known Mage. There are even those who suspect that the last of the great Mages spent their final years scrupulously eradicating all traces of their craft from the pages of history - insuring that their art will never be practiced again. It is the dawn of a new era: an age of reason, science and exploration, and Tristam Flattery, the great-nephew of Erasmus, is one of its most promising young naturalists. But when Tristam is summoned to the royal court of Farrland to try to revitalize a failing species of plant which seems to have mysterious, almost magical, medicinal properties - a plant without which, he is told, the aging king will surely die - he soon realizes that he has been drawn into the heart of a political struggle which spans generations, a conflict which threatens the very foundations of his civilization. And before long, Tristam is caught in the grip of a destiny which will lead him to the ends of the known world - on a voyage of discovery that has more to do with magic than with science....