Hundreds of cycles have passed in Girdlegard since Tungdil Goldhand vanished. The dwarf Goïmron works as a gem carver in the city of Mallenias Watch. He is particularly fascinated by the old times, the great times of the five dwarf tribes, and so spends his spare time searching the markets for records and artefacts for clues about their proud history. And then Goïmron comes across an extraordinary book. The wealth of detail it contains leaves no doubt that the book must have been written by the heroic Tungdil Goldhand himself. But, impossibly, the last entry seems to be recent. . . When Goïmron sets out in search of the legendary dwarf, he and his troop of companions soon find themselves in the middle of ancient intrigues and brutal power struggles between ruthless humans, mysterious albae - and dragons. Once again, the land of Girdlegard needs the wisdom, humour, fighting spirit and stubbornness of the dwarves. Heroes old and new will accept the challenge . . . but will the dwarves rise again?