Ling is hated by everyone in the Monastery because his birth killed his mother. He hopes Caste testing will ease his troubles-either his rank will be so low that everyone will forget about him, or it will be so high they'll be forced to respect him. What he doesn't expect is to walk out of the testing chamber with an egg emblazoned across his back. Laughed out of the Monastery, Ling hides away in Altnoia, where he becomes embroiled in a plot to overthrow King Edan and the Oracle who supports him. The ringleader behind the plot is Prince Damarion, son of the evil despot who forced King Edan to flee in the first place-but the prince's motives don't match Ling's expectations. He doesn't anticipate a friendship, either, or what that friendship would become and the choices he would be forced to make.
