This is one of those stories told from multiple viewpoints – an innkeeper, a maid, the stableboy, and several guests: Lal – a dark skinned possible sorceress, clearly from another land, Nayateneri, a warrior woman on the run from assassins, Lukassa, who Lal has somehow managed to raise from the dead, and Tikat, Lukassa’s betrothed, who has followed Lal and Lukassa to the inn where they meet up with Nayateneri.
Lal and Nayateneri were formerly students of a wizard, and have somehow figured out that Lukassa is the key to finding him, because they’ve somehow figured out that something is wrong with him. So that’s the set up, and it’s confused enough that I went along for the ride, but am still not entirely sure what I was watching unfold. It’s an interesting story, but there are parts I still just don’t get. Not one of my favorite Beagle books, but it wasn’t terrible either.