The Knights of the Flaming Blade were mystic swordsmen who served the Council of Sages, but hundreds of years have passed since the Long Winter destroyed the old kingdoms. In a new world of invention and reason, the deeds of warriors with flaming swords are now thought to be only mythic tales.

One night Kyric meets a lunatic criminal named Aiyan. In his ravings, Aiyan tells him about an immortal man who lived before the Long Winter, whose veins run with the blood of a dragon, a man at the center of a web of minions, all with the power to control the will of others. He also claims to belong to a secret order of knights that opposes these men. If this is true, and Aiyan has really stolen a priceless map from the men of the dragon's blood, it will plunge Kyric into a deadly plot he is not prepared for, involving warriors with the hidden powers of the old world. But does Aiyan speak the truth, or is he simply a madman?