Quest for the Black ElfstoneIn 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 summons 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 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 company 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; Quickening, 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 Oven house of Shannara had all completed their quests. Walker Boh had restored the Druid's Keep with the Black Elfstone. Wren had restored the missing Elves to the Four Lands. And Par had found what was quite possibly 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, Kimmel-Dail, was determined that the scions of Shannara would not share the knowledge that would end the sickness. For Walker, he would dispatch the Four Horsemen. For Wren, he sent an untrue friend. And for Par, he devised the most terrible fate of all.The charges given by the shade of the Druid Allanon were doomed to failure—unless the Shannara children could escape the traps being laid for them, and Par could find a way to use... the Sword of Shannara!