All the dragons, and not just the youngers, need to find their magic - or bargain for it with the Masters of Magic. Will the cost be too high; will it force the dragons to deny their promise to protect the people who saved them from the enemy across the sea? The three, Shadow and Pax and Gheis, have their own paths through this journey of war with the Ashans and the fear of the failing gate - and the monsters who will come through to destroy all. They will be used by the Magic to achieve the needs of the world. Their lives will be forfeit if they fail, and not only their own lives, but the lives of the family, their friends, the people of Narrung. This world and the beings in it would end; the Beast of Kaleanae doesn't have the knowledge to stop them. They will all die, be unmade. Dragons will cease to exist - in all times, in all planes, removed from all memories, from all worlds, unless . . .