How could the City of the Magicians, avowed pacifists, embroil themselves in a warriors' battle to the south? For the nefarious 5th School it's the lure of becoming an imperial capital; for Purdu, the Barbarian leader, it's proof of his divinity; for others, it's an exciting adventure.Back in the City, Shoan, Council Strategist, urges Lalya to make a public repudiation of the 5th School. She would love to, but Sas warns it is premature.Hyur, suffering from a curse sickness,...

"A Journey Without Departure" is the traditional term for a telepathic sending. It is a talent few can perform yet this is the strategy the City of the Magicians—non-violent pacifists, without army or weapons—hopes will mitigate the barbarian invasion coming in six months. The plan could work, but then maybe not. Sas, the young man chosen to "educate the barbarian," can only think, Me? Sendings? They've made a mistake! Lalya, a City librarian searching for her dead lover's vanished manuscr...

Purdu, the barbarian invader, has arrived! How can the pacifist, nonviolent City of the Magicians contain him when one faction appeals to his heart, the other to his ambitions?Sas and Lalya are envoys of opposing camps, but Purdu throws them together to isolate them from their enclaves and assert his own authority. Yet two others decide to oppose him their way. Hyur, foremost metallurgist, secretly forges a magical weapon to tempt and subvert him. Gleswea, an astronomer, flees sout...