Chiros is an orphaned street rat in the filthy city of Lairdrin. He serves as the apprentice of an old witch, working shifts at her potion shop by day and learning magic by night. A resident of the city's poorest, most crime-ridden district, he soon gets entangled in all manner of operations, from government conspiracy to revolution. Chiros needs to use every bit of his wits and magic to scrape by.