The Mayfair Witches face an unimaginable new threat: the Taltos - the giant race gifted with preternatural knowledge, who breed in minutes and live for centuries. The race that spawned the monster-innocent Lasher, who gave the witches their power and almost destroyed them. Unknown to the Mayfairs, another Taltos still lives: the legendary Ashla, who has done and suffered so much down the centuries. Now a frantic dance speeds them all from the dawn of history and the Dark Ages to high-tech New York, from sensuous New Orleans to Stonehenge and the Scottish Highlands, towards their ultimate fate...