Join bestselling authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, world-builders extraordinaire, as they triumphantly return to their epic galaxy-spanning fantasy adventure that began in The Mantle of Kendis-Dai. Enter a remarkable universe where science and magic co exist in uneasy equilibrium. A cosmos populated by elves, dragons, minotaurs, and synthetic minds. . . where ultimate power rests in a fabled sword able to bend reality itself to the will of whoever wields it . . . Thousands of years ago, the mad emperor Lokan controlled the Nightsword--and imposed his twisted desires on all that lived. At his slightest whim, whole worlds were destroyed, and entire races were transformed. Then Lokan mysteriously vanished behind the Maelstrom Wall, into the quantum chaos of the galactic core. But legend says that somewhere behind the Wall, lost amidst the ghost ships of Lokan's doomed fleet, the Nightsword is hidden, its awesome energies waiting to be used again . . . for good or evil. While most dismiss the legend as fairy tale, others believe, and hunger for such godlike power. Though no one knows the course Lokan's fleet followed millennia ago, several have tried to track it, only to perish in the treacherous quantum fields behind the Wall. But when Earther astronaut Jeremy Griffiths donned the Mantle of Kendis-Dai and became blessed--and perhaps cursed--with infinite knowledge, he learned the exact direction of Lokan's ill-fated route. And now the secrets stored in his head have made him the target of everyone who has ever coveted the Nightsword for their own ends. A man with unrivaled magical abilities and insidious instincts, Targ of Gandri yearned for the Nightsword to rule the universe once and for all. His protégé and now-nemesis, Merinda Neskat, believes the sword has the power to restore the ancient empire of Kendis-dai--the goal to which she has dedicated her life. For the mysterious Sentinels of the Order, the artifact would ensure the success of their rebellion and grant them victory in their long struggle for total domination. Caught in the middle, Jeremy Griffiths wants only to get his crew safely home to Earth--and to impress the bewitching, bewildering Merinda Neskat. Yet he is caught firmly in the middle of galactic agendas beyond his control, and this new quest will prove to be the challenge of a lifetime . . . Starshield: Nightsword is a dazzling addition to Weis and Hickman's interstellar epic of magic and adventure--a series destined to stand with Dragonlance® and Death Gate as classics of modern fantasy.