The aging orc shaman Ner'zhul has seized control of the Horde and reopened the Dark Portal. His brutal warriors once again encroach upon Azeroth, laying siege to the newly constructed stronghold of Nethergarde Keep. There, the archmage Khadgar and the Alliance commander, Turalyon, lead humanity and its elven and dwarven allies in fighting this new invasion.

Even so, disturbing questions arise. Khadgar learns of orcish incursions farther abroad: small groups of orcs who seem to pursue a goal other than simple conquest. Worse yet, black dragons have been sighted as well, and they appear to be aiding the orcs. To counter Ner'zhul's dark schemes, the Alliance must now invade the orcs' ruined homeworld of Draenor. Can Khadgar and his companions stop the nefarious shaman in time to stave off the destruction of two worlds?

Aaron Rosenberg has written role-playing games, educational books, magazine articles, short stories and novels for White Wolf and the Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers series. He also runs his own role-playing game publishing company. Aaron lives and works in New York City.

Award-winning author Christie Golden has written over thirty novels and several short stories in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Golden launched the TSR Ravenloft line in 1991 with her first novel, the highly successful "Vampire of the Mists". She is the author of several original fantasy novels, including "On Fire's Wings", "In Stone's Clasp", and "Under Sea's Shadow", the first three in her multi-book fantasy series ?The Final Dance? from LUNA Books.

Among Golden's other projects are over a dozen Star Trek novels and the well-received StarCraft Dark Templar trilogy, "Firstborn", "Shadow Hunters", and the forthcoming "Twilight". An avid player of Blizzard's MMORPG World of Warcraft, Golden has written several novels in that world ("Lord of the Clans", "Rise of the Horde") with three more in the works. She has also written two Warcraft manga stories for Tokyopop, ?I Got What Yule Need? and ?A Warrior Made.? Golden is currently hard at work on three books in the major nine-book Star Wars series ?Fate of the Jedi.? Golden lives in Colorado with her husband and two cats.