Synopsis: Forty-five cards guide the Mages of Avalon - There are five suits:: Blood, Brass, Ice, Sable, and Shadow. There are nine faces: Prince, Mage, Dom, Cat, Everyman, Hound, Ghost, Mixie, and Dreamer. With these cards, a Mage may see visions of truth.... But for the young Mage Marita, finding the path of truth was not as easy as a simple deal of the cards, not when she was the most senior of the Avalon Mages, a Mage School which had lost far too many of its members. Not when her uncle had achieved great power within the ruling Protectorate, and was willing to sacrifice even family members to his own ambitions or the needs of his allies. Not when her brother Benedict now faced a sentence of execution as a rebel against the Protectorate. And especially not when she was about to be swept into the struggle between those who wished to restore the old Empire and rediscover its lost technology and those who would use any spell at their command to keep the Protectorate ruling council in control. (from the back cover of the DAW Books first edition)