The Staff of Law has been broken and the world will descend into chaos unless it is restored, but the pieces are scattered all around the world, and one shard is lost. Knowing that the world cannot be saved, Chanter creates a safe haven for the chosen, but Talsy refuses to give up. She persuades the Mujar to take her and Kieran on a quest to find the pieces of the shattered Staff, which means venturing into the chaos beyond the sheltered valley where Chanter keeps the world in order with Mujar laws. Accompanied by warriors from a plains tribe blessed with the power to speak to horses, the trio traverse a wild and dangerous land where the natural laws have lost their power and deadly chaos beasts roam in search of prey. Nothing is as it should be, and waves of wild Earthpower sweep across the land, turning everything to stone. The Black Riders have become Ghost Riders, animated by the spirits of the Truemen they have slain, which they carry within them. The dangers of the wild land take a toll on the searchers, and, even if Chanter finds the shards, the laws have been lost forever, scattered by the winds and turned to dust. Unless the Staff of Law is made whole again and the lost laws are restored, the world is doomed.