This book contains the first part in the history of the Goblin Wars of the Middle Realm. The Fourth Age is ending, and Torquatus, the mage king of the goblins, is moving to bring all the nations of the Middle Realm under his evil dominion. The elves are gone, those not destroyed by the goblins having fled over the sea. Only the dwarves and men of the South now oppose the goblins.While the war rages on, a young boy mysteriously appears in the forests of the South and is found by Balbus, an old soldier. Balbus suspects that the boy, whom he names Arius, may be one of the vanished elves. He raises the boy in hiding, and he and his mage friend Tullius teach Arius the skills and the magic he will need to survive as he grows older. In his quest to discover his past, Arius travels the length and breadth of the Middle Realm, while facing dangers from magical trees, shape changers, goblins, trolls, and human raiders. Along the way he meets and befriends a dwarf named Ascilius and together they become involved in the struggle against the goblins, while Arius tries to discover the truth of his past.