It was reissued in hardcover and trade paperback by Wildside Press in March 2000, with an audiobook edition following from the save publisher in November 2011.

[4] The novel is set in the distant past, in the then fairly temperate country of Ultima Thule, now buried beneath Arctic ice.

Young protagonist Arnten is shunned by his peers in his band due to his inquiring mind and his status as son of the exiled were-bear Arntat.

It is dependent for weapons and other necessities on iron mined and forged by the local dwarfs or Nains, but the metal has become "sick" and prone to decay.

As father and son travel together in human form, they are discovered and caught by Orfas's men, and condemned to the mines of the Nains.

There he joins with the now recovered Tall Roke, his uncle, and others to travel to the land of the wizards, who can break the spell afflicting the iron.