The lordly Stormriders land their winged stallions on the airy battlements of the Isse Tower, while in the fortress' depths servants sit by the hearth and tell ghastly tales of a world most of them have only glimpsed. Yet it is the least of the lowly - a mute, scarred and utterly despised foundling - who dares to scale the tower, sneak aboard a Windship and then dive from the sky........