Sitting around their dinner table, replete from a mighty banquet, Ibn Fahad and Masrur al-Adan - two of the Caliph of Bagdad's most trusted servants - are called upon to tell tales.
Tales of the unknown north, where they ventured in their youth as guards to a caravan.
As their tale unfolds, a creeping horror floods over the listeners - and also over the two storytellers, remembering a time when their excellence at spinning fables was, like Scherazade, the only attribute which kept them alive.
Tad Williams and Nina Kiriki
Hoffman have written a darkly-glittering tale of adventure which will appeal to all lovers of the Arabian Nights.