A WOMAN ALONE IN A MAN'S WORLD OF MAGIC . . . She saw her parents murdered when she was but a child. Rescued from the ruins of her family's homestead by a teacher of the Divine Art, Mereddyd-a-Lagan swore to learn the powerful secrets necessary to track down the murderers and exact vengeance. But first she would have to overcome centuries of prejudice against female mages, and become the first ever female apprentice to the Meri -- the otherworldly Being who stands between humanity and the Spirit of the Universe. But on the eve her quest for the Meri is to begin, Mereddyd learns that she is not the first woman in history to take the path to the Meri's shore. . . . And that the one who went before her never returned.