The sequel to The Cloud Gatherer begins several years after that book. Haran, now Sultan of Oas and Entana, has married Qeemah and they are expecting a son. But pressing problems vex his reign. The water problem in Entana, the reason for that city's attack on Oas that resulted in Haran's ascendancy to Sultan, has grown worse. And there seems to be nothing to correct it. There simply aren't enough Gatherers to go around.Then, tragedy strikes. Qeemah and Haran's infant son is kidnapped soon after his birth and spirited from the city. Haran, distraught, assembles a group of his best men to find the boy, led by the dour wizard, Thepses. What they learn chills their blood.For the baby has been kidnapped by the Sen, a mysterious and crafty race far to the south of Oas, across the desert Stormground, the huge alkali flats of the Anvil and the tangled swamp known as the Morass. There, strange magics are worked on the child, for he is to serve a purpose…an evil purpose.Haran and his men must travel this dangerous route, seeking allies and fending off enemies. While he approaches Sen, though, they send their own armies north, seeking battle with Entana and Oas. Qeemah and her advisors, outnumbered by a vastly superior army, are forced to contemplate the unthinkable…abandonment of their desert home and defeat by an unstoppable foe.