Pelmen owes a lot to the Boisencroix family. Until he met the son, Teleg, the only future he could see for himself was cutting up animal skins with a flint in his village’s nauseating tannery. It is his new friend who introduces him to woodworking. Better yet, Teleg’s father, Galn, has introduced him to archery, and Pelmen has such a natural talent with the bow that he alters the course of his destiny by becoming an archer.

One day, however, Teleg meets some strangers in a tavern. By offering him a fragment of amberrock, the most precious of minerals, and promising him untold riches, these mysterious individuals persuade him to leave home to work in a mine. When Pelmen learns that these strangers are fire-worshipers, he immediately launches himself into an adventure.

In order to rescue his friend from the clutches of the nylevs, servants of the god of destruction, Pelmen must overcome his fears and ally himself with strange and fantastic beings: a shaman who controls the breath of Aoles, or the power of the wind; a Krongos, a creature of the mineral realm capable of incorporating himself into rock; and a Malian, adept at water magic.