The boy named Jondelle held the key to further data in Earl's quest, but before he could obtain it, the child was kidnapped. The pursuit of the kidnappers led directly to the weirdest, mist vicious race of all, to a city of paranoiac killers in a country of madmen, But it was there and there alone that Dumarest could pick up the trail that led to Jondelle, and to long-lost Terra.