It started long ago, in a tower at the Eye of Time, as a war between the shadowy Immortals who came before our kind. That war persists today, as the wizard Mauryl's Shaping confronts the Shadows that Hasufin summoned from Chaos against the Siddhe lords.

Tristen is that Shaping, a halfling creature of Fire and Shadow. Both more and less than human, he turned back sorcery's tides in the legend-heavy battle of Lewenbrook. Tristen's victory brought his friend Cefwyn the burden of a Kingdom, Ylesuin, and the light of a love that would outlast the ages--Ninevrise, with her gift of prophecy.

But the Lines that hold the world in place are shifting once again. The lightning-sheeted sky is aflame with sorcery's terror and magic's promise. Tasmorden has raised an army of rebels, and planted betrayers in Cefwyn's Dragon Guard. Once again, Cefwyn's peril is Tristen's call to arms.

Astride black-maned Dys, with the eyes of Owl and the counsel of Auld Syes, with the friendship of Crissand and the loyalty of Uwen, Tristen takes up his sword inscribed with "Truth" and "Illusion" back-to-back on its blade.

But the day will not be won by iron edges. Even Tristen's double-edged sword cannot cut through the knot of this new challenge. For Tristen is facing more than a pretender to Cefwyn's throne. The Shadows he sees are not from the overwhelmed sun, but straight from Ruin--a flow of darkness covering the world like ink.

If sorcery is wizardry gone askew, what is magic's dark side? A wind, as nameless as the abyss from which it rises and as cold as the knowledge of Tristen's true origin....

Fortress of Dragons completes the soaring tale of two friends, sovereign and sorcerer, begun in Fortress in the Eye of Time and continued in Fortress of Eagles and Fortress of Owls. This awesome high fantasy epic from the acclaimed, awardwinning author is set in a world tangled with magic, dark with violence, and filled with wonder and awe--a world as vividly real as our own.