The walled city of Weld is under attack from ferocious flying creatures that raid in the night, bringing death and destruction. The Warden calls for Volunteers to find and destroy the Enemy who is sending the invaders. The heroes of Weld answer the call one by one, never to return. Rye is officially too young to go, but his brothers are among the lost, and he must find them."[1]
American version
Three magic Doors
you here behold.
Time to choose:
Wood? Silver? Gold?
"Rye stands before three Doors, about to step out into the unknown. He's lived his whole life safe inside the enormous wall that rings the city of Weld and protects against the terrible dangers outside. Now, Weld is under attack from skimmers, flying beasts the kill in the night. If the enemy sending the skimmers isn't found, the citizens of Weld are doomed.
But that’s not why Rye has volunteered on a mission to leave Weld and stop the skimmers. His real goal is to find his two older brothers, who volunteered before him and never returned. Now Rye must open a Door and begin a perilous quest that could save his brothers... or cost his life."[2]
Plot
Characters
Rye is a Weld citizen from Southwall who has lived inside the Wall his entire life, and the red-haired third child of Lisbeth, the beekeeper. Rye goes beyond the wall in pursuit of his older brothers when they are declared dead trying to stop the skimmer attacks on Weld.
Sonia is a Weld citizen dressed as a Keep Orphan who accompanies Rye beyond the Wall on his quest to save his brothers.
Dirk is a Weld citizen from Southwall and the eldest son of the beekeeper Lisbeth. Originally a well-respected worker on the Wall, Dirk leaves with his friends Joliffe and Crell to join the Warden's quest to find the source of the skimmers.
Faene D'Or is the daughter of the chief of Fleet, a town in Dorne.
Sholto is a Weld citizen from Southwall and the second son of the beekeeper Lisbeth. Sholto leaves his job as an apprentice to the healer Tallus in pursuit of the skimmers after his brother, Dirk, is declared dead beyond the Wall on the same quest.
Lisbeth is a Weld citizen and beekeeper from Southwall who leaves for the Keep to work in the kitchens when her livelihood is destroyed by skimmers. She is mother to Dirk, Sholto and Rye who each leave on the Warden's quest to find the source of the skimmers beyond the wall.
While the Lord of Shadows mentioned in this book is the same character as the Shadow Lord found in the Deltora Quest series, the characters of Nanion and Ethena found in this book are ancestors of the Nanion and Ethena of the Deltora Quest series.
The people Fleet are the ancestors of the people of D'Or.
The golden Door leads to a thousand years back into past, to the time when Queen Adina ruled Deltora and the people of Fleet were migrating to Deltora.
The book along with the rest in the Three Doors trilogy include several references to the Deltora Quest series, as it is set in the same world.