The worst fact about the mess they were in was Kestrel knew it was his own fault. He shouldn't have tried to trick the sorceress Phoebe with a load of worthless wood, or compounded the error by trying to trick the other wizards of their gold. So they were being pursued by eleven angry wizard and uncounted imps, but even so it wasn't fair.

Legends told of how the evil God Torak had coveted the power of the Orb of Aldur, until defeated in a final battle. But prophecy spoke of a time when he would awake and again seek dominance over all the world. Now the Orb had been stolen by a priest of Torak, and that time was at hand. The master Sorcerer Belgarath and his daughter Polgara the arch-sorceress were on the trail of the Orb, seeking to regain it before the final disaster. And with them went Garion, a simple farm boy only months...

Tobas had been lucky to find a wizard to take him on as apprentice. But then the wizard died suddenly and unexpectedly after teaching Tobas only a solitary spell, and the youth was too old to find a new master. How could he earn a living when all the magic he could do was light fires?

It is time for Simon Branthwaite to leave Sandarro, the city where he has lingered since reaching the fabled island of Roackall. Bidding a farewell to his new found love, Princess Ilven, he sets out with Prince Avran to continue his quest for the lost realm of Lyonesse.

Swords Against Death, the second story in the Lankhmar series, finds Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser beginning their real journey. Their hearts altered by the loss of first true love, they embark on a long and winding path of drunken debauchery and womanizing until crossing paths with two cross wizards, Sheelba of the Eyeless Face and Nigauble of the Seven Eyes. A most violent of clashes ensues.