A year had passed since Ben Holiday bought the Magic Kingdon from the wizard Meeks, to find his road to the crown filled with hazards and pitfalls set by Meeks. He had won, aided by three loyal friends: Questor Thews, an ill-trained Court Wizard; the Court Scribe Abernathy, a talking dog; and the lovely Willow, who sometimes had to become a tree.
Now Ben sat at breakfast, telling of a troubling dream about his former partner Miles Bennett in grave trouble. Questor had also had a dream—of finding the lost books of magic. And Willow had dreamed of a black unicorn and a golden bridle to control it. But when Ben set out to see Miles, he found the man doing well, and he hastened back to Landover.
Questor returned with the books of magic, but one was badly burned and the other only held drawings of unicorns. Willow, who had gone to see her mother about the unicorn, had not come back.
That night, Ben woke to see Meeks gloating over him. Meeks claimed he sent all the dreams, that he now had the medallion that gave the King power to summon the mysterious knight-protector, the Paladin, and that he had cast a spell to assume Ben’s appearance. Ben now looked like a dirty vagrant, he sneered.
Ben found himself outcast, no longer recognized by any friend. But somehow, all his greatest enemies seemed to know him. And without the medallion, he couldn’t seek the help of the Paladin against them. There was only the prism cat—whatever that might be!