The World Fantasy Award-winning third volume of the Lyonesse trilogy
brings attention to the faerie changeling Madouc. Where princess Suldrun
once meekly endured the proprieties of Castle Haidion, Madouc defends
herself with rotten fruit. Vexed, King Casmir arranges a contest to
marry her off, but Madouc has other ideas, and enlists the stable boy
"Sir Pom-Pom" on an impromptu quest to find her father. During their
travels, they encounter swindlers, faeries, trolls, ogres, a knight in
search of his youth, and a relatively pedestrian item known as the Holy
Grail. As the sorcerers Shimrod and Murgen investigate portents of
cataclysm in the world of magic, Casmir plans a murder that will bring
all the lands under his iron rule; however, his ambitions will be
complicated by one small but important oversight -- he's failed to allow
for Madouc!