Almost thirty years ago, a female wizard of the covenant bore a son and named him Andros. As he grew, the other magi realized that Andros understood magic at a level the scholars of Hermes could not comprehend. He knew the future and the past; he could see and speak with spirits. But then, quite suddenly, the youth acquired a great fear of magic, and soon thereafter ran away. Today the name of Andros is again spoken at the covenant, when a mysterious message arrives from Byzantium. The letter reports that Andros lives as the slave of one Farad Sahda, "The Old Physician," a conjurer of the Black Sea. The letters writer enjoins the covenant to rescue its offspring — who, with his master, will soon be in Constantinople.