The Brazen Gambit

In Urik, an ancient city besieged by ever-advancing desert, the sorcerer king Hamanu rules with infinitesimal mercy. His law is enforced through templars, yellow-robed clerks that have the authority to draw on Hamanu's sorcerous power when necessary (and suffer the king's deadly temper if they happen to misjudge the necessity).

One of the lower-ranking templars, Pavek, happens to witness an attack of a human crazed by Laq, a mysterious substance that lends strength and madness of a berserker to whoever uses it. On a whim, Pavek tries to find out more about the crazed human, and ends up fleeing Urik after he interferes in an ambitious plan of a traitorous high templar ...