The first volume in the trilogy – The Firebird – told of the ‘testing’ for magical ability of Sharaval, a young village girl, by Garval – a wizard, and Ijula, a sorceress; and, after her selection, her subsequent eventful trip to WitchMoot, the school for wizards and enchantresses, and the adventures that befell her during the journey. They were attacked early on in their journey by a band of evil creatures, forcing them to flee into a cave which then led into an underground river system. This subsequently, and fortuitously, took them into an unknown land, hidden within the nearby mountain range, where two ancient and forgotten, if not unknown, peoples lived: the Coedu – wood dwellers – and the Suuq – The Old Ones – a pre-Iron Age folk.
They had rescued a wizard who was being held captive and tormented by an evil sorcerer, who was also trying to destroy the land and enslave the peoples, by emanating an evil miasma from his tower fastness. They attacked the tower and destroyed it, thus freeing the peoples of the hidden land from his evil domination and ending his dark, magical destruction of the trees and plants. The rescued wizard turned out to be Balel, one of the original Council of Seven Wizards, scattered after the Chaos Wars, and a Master of the of Domain of Illusions. He joined the band on their journey to WitchMoot.
They encountered a running fight between some of the wood dwellers and evil creatures and rescued several of the wood dwellers but, in turn, they had taken some hurts in the battle. They were subsequently taken to the Pools of Healing in the main Coedu village, to recover; and in particular to heal Balel who had suffered grievously during his torment in the evil tower. There they met a man who was also recovering in the Pools of Healing – a mighty hunter from the north, called Beldi – the Hawk. He had followed a prophecy which foretold he would meet a group of Sorcerers such as theirs and he too, therefore, joined them. On their way across the hidden land they were attacked yet again by fell creatures and were given help and then special mounts – The Vidin – by a war band of Centaurs: who tend to the Vidin but do not own them, before arriving at the exit to the land, a pass across the mountains.
On their way out of the hidden land they were asked by the eagles of the mountains to deal with an evil creature which was terrorising the mountain paths and blocking the main pass. This was an extremely large manticore and, through the artifices of Balel, who created a simulacrum manticore to lure it into a narrow gorge, they trapped and killed it. As they left the land, they took shelter from a fierce snow storm in a previously unknown cave, which had been opened by a rockfall caused by the sorcerous powers which they had unleashed, in which they found the magically preserved body of a powerful sorceress from a bygone age. She was recognised by Garval and Ijula as The Alkate Diezaióken, a mighty enchantress from former times, and the group were magically gifted with some of the items secreted there. This included a unicorn horn for Sharaval, which only a pure maid may touch, as well as the Grimoire of Ilutu – an ancient book of deep magic, which Ijula took back to WitchMoot.
When Sharaval and her travelling companions arrived at Thrandória, the capital city, on their way to WitchMoot, they discovered that the Princess, the King’s daughter, was ill with Jinar fever, which could only be cured by finding a mythical creature: The Firebird.
Sharaval, Garval and a few chosen companions agreed to seek for the Firebird and to ask it for a cure for the Princess. They succeeded and cured the King’s daughter. They were assisted by Zhomar, an orphan boy from the Jinar region, whom they had earlier met en route to Thrándória.
During their subsequent journey they encountered a further four of the seven original members of the Wizard’s Council, who had largely withdrawn from the world, and whom many believed dead or lost after the Chaos Wars. This was taken as a good portent and the Council was then subsequently able partly to reconvene for the first time in an age at WitchMoot – Garval being revealed also as a member. A continuing theme was Sharaval’s training in, and subsequent use of, magic; both during the journey and after her arrival at WitchMoot.
The volume ended with an attack on WitchMoot itself by evil forces, a betrayal by Gúgrith, one of the wizard pupils studying at WitchMoot, who let in a Dark Wizard. He had been a teacher in Sharaval’s village; but was really in deep disguise and was a spy for the Dark Ones, and he was then able to unlock the magical seals cast around the School for protection, thus allowing evil forces into the valley. The volume ended with the appearance of the missing seventh wizard to complete the Wizard’s Council – called an ‘Upthronging – and the defeat of the attack, albeit with many losses amongst the magicians – including the QueensWitch Gúlnara.
The epilogue was the summoning of the Council of 13 evil Wizards, Ghouls and Necromancers, known as the Haimaru – by Suge the Serpent King (comprising the four Dark Trios plus Suge) following the failure of the attack on WitchMoot – and the minor eruption of The Loud Mountain in reaction to the summoning and the unleashing of such a large dark magical disturbance.