Teenage Gideon and his mentor Davos are on a mission to fulfill the boy's destiny of leading his tribe of Moya out of the bondage of the evil Goths. Roxton and Marguerite come upon them, just as Davos is fatally wounded in a Goth attack. Before he dies, Davos charges Roxton with ensuring Gideon and the ""Star of Hope"" quarterstaff he carries, reach their destination. What they discover is that Gideon has been taken from his parents as a child, raised by monks, and chosen to lead his people from the isolated caves where they have hidden for a generation.