Tristen, a young man summoned and "shaped" into the world by the wizard Mauryl in Fortress in the Eye of Time (1995) takes up, in the third book of this high fantasy series, as duke of the Southern stronghold Amefel under his lord and friend, King Cefwyn. Although fully grown, Tristen has lived in the world less than a year and is still more magical creature than flesh and blood man, so he has trouble handling the subtleties of politics. He keeps breaking rules: rebuilding old defensive walls, sheltering starving fugitives from his enemy's lands and summoning the Southern Lords to discuss battle in the middle of a harsh winter. King Cefwyn, meanwhile, is learning that the head beneath the crown always rests uneasily.