Sarah Jane has come to Isabelle Harton's school in London, a happy child with unusual gifts, but will Isabelle be able to keep her safe from a powerful intent to harm her?

Within the Eastern Empire, Duke Kordas Valdemar rules a tiny, bucolic Duchy that focuses mostly on horse breeding. Anticipating the day when the Empire's exploitative and militant leaders would not be content to leave them alone, his father gathered magicians in the hopes of one day finding a way to escape and protect the people of the Duchy from tyranny. One of the Duchy's mages find there is a way to place a Gate at a distance so far from the Empire...