A hero comes to Mars. There he encounters people — and monsters.

Of the seven magical things Kitt forged from a fallen star, only three remain. The Wand of Wenmut drops him onto a rust-red plain beside a grave, amid lightning that melts iron from the regolith. The Emerald Star, a powerful amulet, keeps him from instant death.

Behind a glass dome, the people speak of cities on the Moon, a journey to Jupiter, and a Founder whose mind still lives in a machine.

Then the world-divides open again, and Mars is no longer empty.

Sword-and-Sorcery collides with a near-future Mars colony.