Synopsis: Exile or "rehabilitation"? Not much of a choice - and Max, a born prankster, stands to lose either way. But he chooses exile, and finds on an unknown planet the adventure - and danger - his own uptopian world lacked. Befriended by the warrior tribe called the Enthok, Max must enter the corrupt city-state of Salf to find and recapture the beautiful leader of the proud Enthok. But to do so, he must first discover the secret behind the cruel power of the threatening figure of Bithe. (from the back cover of the Pocket Books first edition) What is the power of Bithe? We have no records, only legends. Some say that few Old Ones survived. Those who loved us rose up and destroyed those who enslaved us. But the legends do not say that all who enslaved us died. There lies our fear. If those who hated us have lived all these years in some secret place, and they have now chosen to return... Whis is this power that suddenly drives our people to war against each other? Who is this Bithe? Is he an Old One? Or perhaps, more dangerously, an offworlder? (from the first page of the Pocket Books first edition)