The Dwarves
 Tungdil Bolofar, a young blacksmith, is the only dwarf in Ionandar, one of Girdlegard's five enchanted realms. These realms, rich in magical energy forcefields, are ruled by magi while other lands are ruled by the kings and queens of Girdlegard. His "foster father", the venerable magi Lot-Ionan, sends him on an errand to return some artifacts to one of his former pupils and then travel to the secondling dwarf kingdom. Along the way he meets Boindil and Boendal, two secondling twins, who lead him to Ogre's Death, a fortress in their kingdom. They slaughter orcs and avoid Nudin, a magus who has fallen under the spell of The Perished Land (the evil spirit of Girdlegard). Nudin betrays the magi, kills them and corrupts the forcefields so that he alone can use them.The Perished Land attempted and succeeded in infiltrating Girdlegard and defeating the dwarves' fifthling kingdom eleven hundred cycles ago. Whoever dies on the Perished Land is raised as a revenant in service of the Perished Land's spirit though if the reverents spirit is strong enough it can resist the perished land. Tungdil owns the books that explain the only way to defeat Nudin: forge a magical axe called Keenfire that needs to have a steel blade a hilt made of the extinct tree known as the sidguredaisy, and runes engraved with a combination of all the known metals. They decapitate Nudin, but he survives thanks to the dark power of the spirit of the perished land possessing him. They meet Andokai, the last surviving maga, and her bodyguard Djerun. Tungdil is also involved in a plot to delegitimize Gandogar's claim to the throne, who has been convinced by his evil advisor Blisipur who is secretly a thirdling (an evil race of dwarves who throughout history have tried to end the lives of all other dwarves) that the elves betrayed the fifthlings and want to create a war with them while they're weak from the constant battles with the perished land. Tundgil and Gandogar then set out to forge Keenfire for the fifth challenge that was taken out by chance by Blisipur in the draw. cs:Trpaslíci (kniha) it:Le cinque stirpi de:Die Zwerge