"Something is wrong at the Sea. The weeping tide, a carnivorous algae bloom, is eating up all the fish. Beasts are terrorizing the nearby Elsewheres. And Lochmordra, the Legendary Beast, is rising at random and swallowing ships whole. Barclay's teacher, the famous Guardian Keeper Runa Rasgar, has been summoned to investigate, and as her apprentice, Barclay gets to join too. But Runa's nemesis has also been called to the Sea, and he's brought apprentices...

Thirteen-year old Barclay and his fellow Lore Keeper apprentices are excited to travel to the Desert to study at the respected University of Al Faradh, but when dangerous, unnatural sandstorms and a magical library appear, more than their exams are at stake.