Inexplicably outlawed by the Empress Lionstone XIV, Owen Deathstalker and his reluctant rescuer Hazel D'ark seek aid and refuge on the rebel planet Mistworld. Having shirked the warrior legacy of his late father's Deathstalker clan for a pampered and reclusive life as a historian, Owen is ill-prepared for the harsh realities of Mistworld, a dangerous place populated by the outcasts of Lionstone's regime: the clones, the espers, the genetic inferiors of the empire. If he can survive the process, he is in for an unpleasant education that will open his eyes to the nightmare the Empire has become. But before he can entertain any plans for rebellion, he must enlist the services of a most unlikely band of heroes, some of whom aren't even human...