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Cardassia Prime is home to a prideful people who, for centuries, forged alliances with those they believed would strengthen them and their place in the Alpha Quadrant, and expanded their empire at great cost to other worlds. For generations, dissenting voices were silenced by either fear or an early grave. When their wartime ally, the Dominion, suddenly turned on them, seeking to transform Cardassia into a tomb for every last member of their race, their old adversary--the United Federation of Planets-- put an end to the carnage, and even now works to help rebuild Cardassia Prime.

To celebrate this alliance, the Castellan of the Cardassian Union is to welcome the Federation president to Cardassia Prime. As a symbol of this deepening friendship, the U.S.S. Enterprise-E is tasked to carry the Cardassian ambassador to the Federation back home. For his part, Ambassador Elim Garak is working with Captain Jean-Luc Picard to oversee the diplomatic reception that will commemorate the last of Starfleet's personnel finally leaving the homeworld. However, there are malevolent forces at work, who even now strive to "restore Cardassia to its proper place and glory," and are willing to do anything to achieve their goal....

For twenty years, the once proud lands of Eriador have lain, conquered and suffering, under the despotic and demonic power of the evil Wizard-King Greensparrow and his legions of monstrous cyclops soldiers. The dwarves and Fairborn elves are slaves; humans fare little better.

Arena fighter Luthien Bedwyr, son of Eorl Garhis of Bedwydrin, is too young and privileged to understand Greensparrow's oppression. Then one night Luthien seeks justice for a friend's murder, only to become a fugitive from Greensparrow's thugs.

It is a flight that will turn a grand adventure when he befriends the egotistical, irrepressible "highway halfling" Oliver deBurrows... and a magical odyssey when the two are recruited by the ancient, exiled wizard Brind'Amour. For now their mission is to battle a dragon and obtain wondrous rewards: most especially a cape that renders its wearer invisible - but leaves behind an indelible scarlet silhouette.

Falling from lord's heir to common thief should be a pathetic fate for Luthien, but the masses are tormented by the excesses of Greensparrow's henchmen. Luthien, Oliver, and a beautiful elf slave discover that any blow against the establishment may forment revolution.

And that Eriador is desperately ready to rally behind a legend. Like the whispered rumors of a mysterious robber-assassin who strikes only evil-doers, distributing their spoils to the innocent. An unseen, unstoppable hero known as... THE CRIMSON SHADOW.

In The Sword of Bedwyr, young Luthien Bedwyr rebelled against the crushing rule of King Greensparrow and his cruel wizard-lords. To save his once proud land of Eriador, Luthien was given a magical cape that renders its wearer invisible - but leaves behind an indelible scarlet silhouette.

In Luthien's Gamble, we see Luthien at a crossroads: in spite of the urgings of his comrades to avoid further conflict with Greensparrow, Luthien feels compelled to continue the battle for his beloved country Eriador. Realizing that nobody else will take charge, and with the support of both dwarves and elves, Luthien and his followers stage guerilla raids on town after town. Luthien and his forces defeat scores of enemies and win huge numbers of allies.

In the end, King Greensparrow sues for peace. Yet Luthien and Brind'Amour recognize that even in this time of celebration, Greensparrow cannot be trusted, and that the rumblings of a larger battle - for the freedom of the known world - loom in the not-too-distant future.

There is no peace for King Brind'Amour's newly liberated Eriador, as Avon's evil King Greensparrow breaks the truce with border massacres and demon sorcery. War is inevitable, but would be suicidal. Even when allied with DunDarrow dwarfs, Fairborn elves, and the Riders of Eradoch, the peasant armies led by Luthien Bedwyr and his friends are hopelessly outmatched by Avon's Cyclopian legions. Meanwhile, Brind'Amour's magic must face the fiends of Avon's sorcerous dukes...

Then suddenly, Luthien is captured by Huegoth raiders and gains some astonishing information about the fate of his lost brother. Lady Deanna Wellworh discovers that she is the rightful heir to Avon's throne. And the lord of wild, distant Baranduine begins a desperate campaign to free his land from Greensparrow.

Now battle will be joined on mountain, plain and swamp, on land, sea, and in the air - in a war of courage and dire wizardries. Yet in the end, all the valor of Eriador, and all the daring of Luthien's magical alter, ego, the Crimson Shadow, may not be enough to vanquish Greensparrow's ultimate weapon. For Greensparrow isn't merely allied with the hell-monster he plans to unleash: Greensparrow is the vast and terrible being that once withstood the combined might of the ancient Brotherhood of Wizards. And in centuries of plotting world conquest, the beast has murdered the sleeping mages. Except one. Heir to a dying magic, Brind'Amour must stand alone...