Summary Life-sized statues of Xax, Lord Protector, have been placed in every village and on every road, to which the Kaleans must pay homage, under pain of imprisonment. The statues are actually a form of surveillance: the eyes of the crystals, relaying images from all over the countryside to Xax and Kreel. Two small children, Tilly and Flynn, are observed making fun of a statue and are dragged away to work in the Mines. The beautiful Lalia, who lost her fiancé Brodam to Xax and believes him dead, also refuses to worship the idol and is taken prisoner - but is rescued by Will, who is very soon in love with her. However, Xax, watching through the crystals, has also become enamored of Lalia, and sets out himself in search of her. Will has discovered that the crystals used to transmit the images are from a particular, rare, highly flammable kind of quartz; they would need to be regularly replaces, so that if he could destroy the source - a single mine - the surveillance would cease. The jeweller Florian gives him "star-silver" - a substance that if fired into a seam of the quartz would act as a catalyst to blow up the entire mine. The band, with Lalia, set off for the mine with Xax on their hot trail. Will, posing as a Xaxian captain, manages to fool the Head Guard into evacuating the mine before he fires the star-silver into the crystal. Xax and the Warriors are frightened away by the news that the mine is about to explode. Tilly, Flynn and the other prisoners are safe; but the kind man who had taken care of them in captivity cannot be found. Will realizes that this man is none other than Brodam, and faces an almost unbearable choice: he either lets Brodam die, or loses Lalia forever. Nobly Will goes into the smoldering mine and save the life his rival. Will discovers that his challenge in this adventure was to learn to really love, and therefore act selflessly ... Out sight of the band, Lalia turns to Brodam. He is transformed into a deer, and Lalia herself into ... Kalem.

• Adventure
• Swashbuckler
• Fantasy