From the introduction: 25 miles off the coast, perhaps half a day’s travel under sail with good winds, lies a dark outcropping of storm-­â€drenched stone – a black mountain of ominous rock rising from the sea, daring sailors to step ashore and face its danger. Old maps give it the name “Devil’s Point” and legends say the isle was once a peninsula joined to the mainland (till vengeful gods destroyed its bridge of stone in their rage). The locals, however, call it SORCERER ISLAND, and it is believed to be the final resting place of XUTHUS OF DELOSI, a wicked sorcerer who lived centuries before the coming of the Prophet.