Horrified by the misuse of Magic they had witnessed during the First War of the Races, the Druids at Paranor devoted themselves to the study of the old sciences, from the period before the collapse of civilization a thousand years earlier. Only the Druid Bremen and a few trusted associates still studied the arcane arts. And for his persistence, Bremen found himself an outcast, avoided by all but the few freethinkers among the Druids.

But his removal from Paranor was not altogether a terrible thing, for Bremen learned that dark forces were on the move from the Northlands. That seemingly invincible armies of Trolls were fast conquering all that lay to their south. That the scouts for the army - and its principal assassins - were Skull Bearers, disfigured and transformed Druids who had fallen prey to the seductions of the Magic arts. And that at the heart of the evil tide was an archmage and former Druid named Brona!

Using the special skills he had acquired through his own study of Magic, Bremen was able to penetrate the huge camp of the Troll army and learn many of its secrets. And he immediately understood that if the peoples of the Four Lands were to escape eternal subjugation they would need to unite. But, even united, they would need a weapon, something so powerful that the evil Magic of Brona, the Warlock Lord, would fail before its might...

Long ago, the wars of ancient Evil had ruined the world and forced mankind to compete with many other races - gnomes, trolls, dwarfs, and elves. But in peaceful Shady Vale, half-elfin Shea Ohmsford knew little of such troubles.

Then came the giant, forbidding Allanon, possessed of strange Druidic powers, to reveal that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was planning to destroy the world. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was the Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of Shannara. On Shea's shoulders, last of the blood line, rested the hope of all the Races.

Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of Evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea. To save the Vale, Shea flees, drawing the Skull Bearer after him.

Ancient Evil threatens the Elves. For the Ellcrys - the tree created by long-lost Elven magic - is dying, loosing the Spell of Forbidding that bars the hordes of vengeful Demons from the Races of Man.

Allanon, legendary guardian of Earth, summons Wil Ohmsford to guard the Elven girl Amberle on a perilous quest as she carries a seed from the Ellcrys to the mysterious Bloodfire, there to be quickened into a new Ellcrys.

Ravening behind them comes the Reaper, most fearsome of all Demons. Against it, Wil has only the Elfstones of Shannara - and he has lost all power to control them. Helplessly, he watches the shadow of the Reaper appear on the trail before him...

Horror stalked the Four Lands as the Ildatch, ancient source of evil, stirred to new life, sending its ghastly Mord Wraiths to destroy Mankind.

To win through the vile growth that protected the Ildatch, the Druid Allanon needed Brin Ohmsford - for she alone held the magic power of the wishsong, which could make plants bloom instantly or turn trees from green to autumn gold. Reluctantly Brin joined the Druid on his perilous journey. Then Brin's younger brother Jair learned from the mysterious King of the Silver River that Brin was doomed - unless Jair could reach her in time!

So Jair set out through the very heart of evil. And ahead, the Ildatch waited, nursing its plans to trap Brin into a fate far more horrible than death!

Three hundred years have passed since the death of Allanon, and the Four Lands are sadly changed. The Elves have vanished, and the Dwarves are enslaved. The Southland is now under the totalitarian rule of the Federation, and magic is strictly forbidden.

Yet Par Ohmsford still has some power of the Wishsong. While his brother Coll recites the old legends, Par uses his Wishsong to bring then to life. Then a mythic horror known as a Shadowen confronts them. A man calling himself Cogline drives it off, but also brings a message from the ancient Druid, Allanon - to go to the dread Hadeshorn, along with the other Scions of Shannara: Wren, who lives in the Westland, and Walker Boh, somewhere in the Eastland.

At the Hadeshorn, Allanon's spirit reveals a terrible future where Shadowen have destroyed all life in the Four Lands. To prevent that, he orders Par to recover the long-lost Sword of Shannara, Wren to discover the vanished Elves, and Walker Boh to bring back the Druids and their ancient vanished stronghold of Paranor.

All those tasks are manifestly impossible!

In the three hundred years since the death of the Druid Allanon, the mysterious, evil Shadowen have seized control of the Four Lands. The shade of Allanon summmons the four scions of Shannara: Par, Coll, Wren, and Walker Boh. To Walker Boh he gives the duty of restoring the lost Druid's Keep, Paranor. For that, Walker Boh needs the Black Elfstone, but his search leads him into a trap.

Quickening, the daughter of the ancient King of the Silver River, finds Walker Boh dying after an attack by the Shadowen Rimmer Dall. She heals Walker Boh and tells him that the Elfstone is in the hands of the Stone King, who seeks to turn all of the world to stone. To secure the Elfstone they must travel through the Charnal Mountains into the perilous, unknown land beyond. And no one knows what horrible monsters the Stone King has set to guard his citadel.

They form a strange sompany to undertake the quest: Walker Boh, with only one arm and no longer able to summon his magic; Morgan Leah, whose once-magic sword has been broken; Quuickening, who must depend on the men for her defense; and Pe Ell, an assassin who plans eventually to kill her.

Thus, the quest for the black Elfstone begins.

"Find the Elves and return them to the world of Men!" the shade of the Druid Allanon had ordered Wren. It was clearly an impossible task. The Elves had been gone from the Westland for more than a hundred years. There was not even a trace of their former city of Arborlon left to mark their passing. No one in the Westland knew of them - except, finally, the Addershag.

The blind old woman had given instructions to find a place on the coast of the Blue Divide, build a fire, and keep it burning for three days. "One will come for you."

Tiger Ty, the Wing Rider, had come on his giant Roc to carry Wren and her friend Garth to the only clear landing site on the island of Morrowindl, where, he said, the Elves might still exist, somewhere in the demon-haunted jungle.

Now she stood within that jungle, remembering the warning of the Addershag: 'Beware, Elf-girl, I see danger ahead for you...and evil beyond imagining.' It had proved all too true.

Wren stood with her single weapon of magic, listening as demons evil beyond all imagining gathered for attack. How long could she resist?

And if, by some miracle, she reached the Elves and could convince them to return, how could they possibly retrace her perilous path to reach the one safe place on the coast?

The descendants of the Elven house of Shannara had all completed their quests. Walker Boh, using the power of the Black Elfstone, had restored the lost Druid's Keep, Paranor, and become the last Druid himself. Wren had found the missing Elves and brought them back from the island of Morrowindl to the Four Lands. Now she was Queen of the Elves. And Par had found what quite possibly was the legendary Sword of Shannara.

But their work was not yet done - the Shadowen still swarmed over the Four Lands, poisoning all with their dark magic. And the leader of the Shadowen, Rimmer Dall, was determined that the scions of Shannara would not share with each other the knowledge that would end the sickness. Against Walker Boh then, he would dispatch the Four Horsemen. To Wren Elessedil, he would send a friend who would betray her. and for Par Ohmsford, whose wishsong was growing steadily more uncontrollable, he had devised the most terrible fate of all...

The charges given by the shade of the Druid Allanon were doomed to fail - unless the Shannara children could escape the traps being laid for them, and Par could find a way to use the Sword of Shannara.

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