

The group travels to the Roof of the World, where Chitral's Pass is blocked off due to severe blizzards. Thayet and her friend/protector Buriram Tourokom, a gruff K'mir, join Alanna, Coram and Liam on their quest for the Jewel, knowing that it is best for Thayet to leave her country and never return. Caught in the midst of the battles, Alanna and her friends stumble upon Princess Thayet, the Warlord's only child, who is in hiding from her father's enemies who wish to either kill her or marry her to claim the Saren throne.

The war has been fueled by the death of the Warlord's K'miri wife, Kalasin, the most beautiful woman in the world, who killed herself as a rebellion against the persecution of her people. The travelers pass through war-torn Sarain, ripped apart by a vicious civil war between the native K'miri tribes and the ruler, Warlord jin Wilima, whose armies persecute the K'mir.


En route to the Roof of the World, where the Jewel is hidden, Liam and Alanna begin a love affair, despite their clashing tempers and his fear of all things magical. Stopping in Berat, Alanna meets Liam Ironarm, the Dragon of Shang and the most powerful of the Shang fighters, who befriends her and agrees to accompany her on her quest for the Dominion Jewel. The final chapter of this quartet finds Alanna and her manservant, Coram, far from Tortall, on a quest seeking a legendary stone that can provide untold powers in the hands of country rulers. Only Alanna has the power to prevent Tortall's utter destruction." -Back cover summary, Random House's 1998 edition Plot summary But while she searches for the one thing that can save her war-torn country, her nemesis returns form the dead and begins to wreak havoc. She sets out on an impossible quest to find the Dominiom Jewel, a legendary gem that, in the right hands, has limitless power for good. " At last, Alanna of Trebond has become the first female knight errant in Tortall.
