Haghuf, respected elder among the unseen goblins, has only scorn for humans. Yet he is drawn into friendship with a human aristocrat by The Dance, the spiritual exaltation of life that is integral to the goblin species existence. When an unwitting human wanders into the caverns, a series of events is set into motion that will lead their leader, Count Anton, to betray his loyalty to his own people to avoid a war that the humans cannot possibly win. Hunted by humans who feel he has betrayed them by his friendship with the goblins, Count Anton will be thrown into a deeper world, where even the goblins have reason to be afraid...