Farmer's boy Gryf gets stranded in the Great Snow, the worst snowstorm in England for fifty years. After encountering a mysterious rhyme-casting creature in an ancient burial mound on the high lonely Ridgeway, Gryf finds shelter in an infirmary for madmen. There he discovers, and falls into, a strange paper model of a village.
Gryf awakes to find himself in the fen village of Kirin-by-the-Marsh and captive to a slave trader Puggle. Gryf escapes with slave girl Mwyn, and the two friends are soon embroiled in a desperate attempt to prevent the evil plans of a cruel prince of Talipot.
Joined by new friends and allies, the mysterious creature Pandimonde, Sofander the hermit, Hem the Talipoti merchant's son and the corsair pirate Caral, Mwyn and Gryf race to save Tor Madrigal, throne city of the old fallen kingdom.
But unbeknownst to all, Mwyn bears her own marvelous secret.
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