The Yellow City is in crisis. The wells are running dry, and the Sun Mages have been unable to call the rains. Frustrated and impotent, Mages across the land can no longer work the magic that once ran their empire. Now the magic lies solely in the hands of a few women -- the first ever to have developed magical powers. The men's anger knows no bounds -- and that hatred spills over in a series of violent attacks. Now, Raeshaldis, Summer Concubine, and Pomegranate Woman, three uneducated and unskilled women, must band together and use their new powers to save both their country and themselves.