When Maisha and the centaurs visit a city, she heals a stranger and finds that magic is a crime in this city, per the laws of the city's massive church. After an extremely short trial she is sentenced to the catacombs, whereupon she meets Karond, an imprisoned dragon.
He says there is a way out, but that she is the first company he's had in ages. He's reluctant to show her the possible way out, since there's a seal on it that drains magic. Several people have died trying to break it, and he doesn't want to be alone again.
And desperate for companionship, perhaps he and she will have need of each other. But how far will it go?