Unseen, spirits are the guiding force for all of Riftgard. When mortals want to cast spells, it is spirits that take their requests. So, when Flyte Tenner begins to learn magic in an attempt to learn more about his true parents, the spirits are there to witness it. He isn't a fantastic mage by any means, but he doesn't give up, and his resources are too strained for him to be one of the greats. Flyte lives on a farm in Chraith, a kingdom that holds no love for magic, and the only way for him to learn is through trial and error. For the spirits, his situation is intriguing, though it is certainly more frustrating for the boy. Flyte lands himself in prison after burned down a barn during his "training." It looks like it will be several years before he will have a chance to make it out, and he's simply not patient enough for that. To make matters worse his cellmate, Ander Palenus, hardly talks at all! The stoic man is in prison for a more serious charge, high treason, and it would be quite odd for him to be roomed with a lesser criminal like Flyte were it not for the nearby execution date. Both have their reasons to want to escape prison and carve out a new life for themselves. All they'll have to do is break out of their cell first. Maybe then, Flyte can begin to figure out why exactly the spirits keep flocking to him. Any and (almost) all details in the book are subject to change (I'm looking at you, first few chapters!). I'd recommend getting past the first few chapters if you're thinking of dropping the book. They were simply written too long ago to be any good, other than potentially in premise. I'm putting in the graphic violence tag just to be safe, I don't really think that anyone is going to be traumatized by what I write (at least, anyone but the characters in the story, who might all end up pretty traumatized). There will be point in the story where specific characters might get fairly depressed, so there's my warning for that.