Detained by his storyteller's fantastic account of magic and horror no less than if ankle shackled to its hideous narrator, Frank LeCroiux reluctantly listens throughout the night as the ancient ghost Darnoc shares a terrifying tale of dementia and devotion. Rape and rapture. Loathing and love. The Edge Climbers and the Kingdom--the ghost worlds--are at war, and mankind's very mortality and dimension are the spoil.