The destructive hydrogues continue their war against humans and the fiery entities, the faeros. Cesca Peroni, leader of the Roamers, finds that miners have uncovered a hibernating army of alien Klikiss robots. Once released, these robots trigger another dark and ancient plot, one that could lead to a massacre across all human-inhabited planets.
Walker Boh, the last of the Druids, must decipher an ancient map and get to the magic before the Ilse Witch, a beautiful but twisted young woman who wields a magic as potent as that of Walker Boh. Set a generation after "The Talismans of Shannara", "Ilse Witch" begins a five-book Shannara series.
From the north come the Eyrans, from the south, their old enemies, the Istrians. From all over Elda come the nomads, the Footloose. As they gather at the annual fair, a mysterious force is released, which will change the world forever.
The Shaa empire lasted 10,000 years - years of terror, violence and oppressive, brutal order. They began to commit ritual suicide when it became clear that their minds - profoundly intelligent but limited - would accept no further information. So began the war between the Naxids and humanity.