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A young bard faces webs of lies and deception in a world where nothing is as it seems - and everything is a trap for the unwary - When young Kevin became a bard's apprentice, he thought that his new life would be filled with excitement and adventure; so when his new Master's first task for him is a perfectly ordinary manuscript copying errand to the castle of Count Volmar his disappointment knew no bounds. Why the Count was not even involved in Court politics!

But when the Count's niece is kidnapped by elves and the Count asks for his help in recovering her, Kevin is convinced that the adventure he craves is at last at hand. What he cannot know is that the distressed damsel is not really Count Valmar's niece, that the abductors are not really elves - and that even the rescue is not what it appears to be.

Return to the world of The Bard's Tale in this stand-alone sequel to the smash hit Castle of Deception. Naitachal, the Dark Elf who showed his true heroic nature in Castle, is now a Master Bard with a mystical apprentice. On an adventure to a distant, icy land, the pair rescue three strangers who make for strange companions indeed.

The hero of the first Bard's Tale novel, "Castle of Deception ," is now a very old man, but his mentor, the Dark Elf Naitachal, is still going strong and training new apprentices. His latest: the King's own son, Alaire.

The Dark Elf Naitachal, once a Necromancer who gained power by depriving others of their life forces, is now happy in the more peaceful role of Bard. But shadows from his past linger.

Naitachal's Dark Elf clan sees him as the worst of traitors for daring to turn towards the Light. They mean to take revenge. They create a trap, the Chaos Gate, a sorcerous portal that is meant to draw him into their lands and into their power.

Only Kevin, once Naitachal's apprentice, now a full Bard and Count in his own castle, stands between the Dark Elf and certain doom. But can even the powers of Bardic Magic be enough to vanquish the Darkness?