The Lady has spoken to me. It has already begun. Shadows move out of the shrinking desert, south to the rich and arrogant cities of Sembia. "Be brave, little man," says the shadowman, and the boy thinks his voice is surprisingly soft. "Stay with your mother. This will be over soon." The shadows swallow him and he is gone. On the edge of a war that will change the face of Faerûn, the world will find that not all shadows serve Shade.
The archwizards of Shade Enclave have come out of the desert with a message of peace, and an act of war. Split by petty disputes and causeless feuds, the merchant realm of Sembia is wide open for invasion, and with no shortage of Sembians more than happy to sell out to the Shadovar, can only one man -- even if that man is Erevis Cale -- do anything to stop it?