Sandstorm ( novel ) Sandstorm is a stand - alone novel by Christopher Rowe . Summary . In the time period after the Spellplague in 1385 DR , the lands of Calimshan were ripped asunder by an event known as the Second Era of Skyfire . Following the Spellplague , the Calimemnon Crystal , the magical prison of the efreet Memnon and the djinn Calim , shattered . The released creatures immediately resumed their hostilities that dated back to the First Era of Skyfire , circa – 6500 DR . In the wake of the return of Calim and Memnon , many of the residents of Calimshan , presumed to be human , cast off their long held disguises and revealed themselves to be genasi . These descendants of the elemental powers pledged themselves to either fire or air , took over the port cities of Memnon and Calimport respectively , and joined the war between the efreets and djinns . The Second Era of Skyfire lasted until 1450 DR , when both Memnon and Calim were banished to the Elemental Chaos by an unknown event . They left in their wake a devastated Calimshan , torn by the remaining djinns , efreets , and genasi warlords . The genasi of Calimshan were notorious for their treatment of humans as slaves and their constant fighting across the Calim Desert . The only bastion of order in the region was Almraiven , the last human - controlled city , which was ruled by the archmage Acham el Jhotos , also known as the WeavePasha . Once an intellectual center and home of magical research , Almraiven had survived the Spellplague , and after that calamitous event , Acham had worked tirelessly to protect the city from the ravages of the conflict between the djinns and efreets . Eventually , the windsoul genasi Marod el Arhapan became the Pasha of Calimport , but his passion was for staging gladiatorial games in the arena that his family had rebuilt after Calim ’ s departure instead of governing the city , a duty left to his vizar , Shahrokh , a skylord of the djinn . Marod married Valandra el Shelsper , an earthsoul genasi who had been born into a family in Calimport enslaved for generations , but she had escaped her fate by manifesting into a windsoul . When Valandra gave birth to an earthsouled son , Cephas , in 1460 DR , her secret was revealed to Marod , who also learned that his wife had been aiding the Janessar , abolitionists who fought the slave trade all over southern Faerûn . An enraged Marod first made Valandra a slave , then tricked his champion gladiator , Azad , into killing her in the arena . After Valandra ’ s death , Marod made Azad a household slave whose primary task was to read bedtime stories from the book " Founding Stories of Calimshan " to Cephas . Azad soon led a slave revolt and escaped to eastern Tethyr , where he and the other former slaves founded a small settlement known as the Island of the Free on an earthmote over a canyon near the Omlarandin Mountains . When Azad escaped from Calimport , he also abducted the young Cephas , and over the years he had his wife , Sheneerah , train Cephas to fight as a gladiator in the arena that was built on the earthmote . Cephas became a skilled warrior and used Azad ’ s double - headed flail in his fights , most of which he won . The arena was rigged with a canvas floor so that Cephas was never able to come into contact with the ground and was thus unable to use his earthsoul powers . When not in the arena or training , Cephas was often confined to a small chamber , forced to wear thick sandals , and could walk only on wooden walkways so that his feet would never touch the earth . For many years , Cephas was forced to endure these hardships and continually tried to escape the earthmote , but none of his attempts were successful . In 1479 DR , the kenku assassin and spy Corvus Nightfeather discovered Cephas ’ s lineage and devised a plan to rescue him from the Island of the Free . Corvus ’ s raid to free Cephas was successful due to the help of his allies : the ranger Mattias Farseer and his pet wyvern Trill , the goliath Tobin , and the twin halfling rangers Shan and Cynda . Once he was freed , Cephas agreed to travel with Corvus and the circus that the kenku managed . Cephas was given the role of strongman so that the current strongman , Tobin , could fulfill his dream of playing a clown . The circus traveled to the earthsoul genasi settlement of Argentor , whose peaceful inhabitants helped Cephas learn to harness his earthsoul powers . Meanwhile , Corvus , who was working as an agent for both Acham and Shahrokh , informed both his masters that he had Cephas in his possession . Upon learning the location of Cephas , Shahrokh and Marod sent a company of elite minotaur warriors to capture the lost heir of Calimport . The minotaurs attacked the circus at Argentor while it was performing for the settlement , inflicting heavy casualties on the villagers and circus members , but they were ultimately defeated and slain . In the aftermath of the minotaur attack , Corvus opened a magical gate to Almraiven that Cephas and the other prominent members of Corvus ’ s band traveled through . Acham knew of Cephas ’ s heritage and wanted to enspell him with death magic that would kill Marod when the young genasi came into his father ’ s presence . While in Almraiven , Cephas met the windsoul genasi Ariella Kulmina , a swordmage from the genasi nation of Akanûl , who taught him to manifest into a windsoul . Shortly after the group ’ s arrival in the city , Cynda and Tobin were captured by renegade members of the Firestorm Cabal and magically transported to Calimport , where the two were immediately prepared to fight in the arena . Deducing that Tobin and Cynda had been teleported to Calimport , Corvus and his companions , accompanied by Ariella , fled Almraiven and traveled across the Plain of Stone Spiders toward the Calim Desert and Calimport . Munaa yr Oma el Jhotos , the vizar of Almraiven and the WeavePasha ’ s eldest granddaughter , enlisted the aid of a powerful bound demon known as the Spider that Waits to track down Corvus ’ s party . The Spider that Waits caught up with the group near the Shining Sea , and Mattias and Trill decided to remain behind to fight the demon and sacrifice themselves so that Cephas and the others could escape . Cephas and his companions journeyed into the Calim Desert , where they were quickly intercepted by Shahrokh and his djinn allies . After surrendering to Shahrokh , the group traveled to Calimport in a magical ship consisting of sand that the skylord conjured . In Calimport , Cephas and Ariella were taken to Marod ’ s lavish floating palace , and Cephas was reunited with his father . Due to Cephas ’ s life as a gladiator and slave , he hated Marod for organizing gladiatorial games and enslaving people of various races , and neither father nor son showed any affection for the other . While Shan was taken to the gladiator stables , Corvus was imprisoned and stripped of his magical items by Shahrokh , who later made the kenku a slave . Corvus soon made contact with a resistance group in Calimport , and they helped him locate Tobin , Cynda , and Shan . After Cephas decided to orchestrate Marod ’ s downfall , he learned the location of the magical stone that kept his father ’ s palace airborne . Once Cephas destroyed the stone , the manor began to descend rapidly toward the packed arena below . Meanwhile , Corvus was confronted by Shahrokh , who wanted to know the location of a magical book in the kenku ’ s possession that was needed to complete a powerful ritual that could free Calim . Corvus explained to Shahrokh that when the skylord had imprisoned him and destroyed his magical items , the extraplanar space that the book was stored in was destroyed . In order to learn this information from Corvus , Shahrokh had been forced to first make a deal with the kenku , who made the skylord command all of the djinns to leave Calimport for a day , preventing the mighty beings from stopping the palace from falling . In the ensuing panic and chaos of the falling palace , Corvus , Cynda , Shan , and Tobin were able to escape . The four were reunited with Cephas and Ariella after the manor fell and destroyed the arena . In the ruins of the arena , Cephas faced Marod in single combat and swiftly killed him . After leaving Calimport , the companions traveled back to the Island of the Free in order to end the slavery on the earthmote . Cephas confronted but did not kill Azad , who explained how he had been tricked into slaying Valandra . Shahrokh had the djinn work with the efreet of Memnon to find Corvus ’ s lost books , as one of them was needed to finish the ritual to return Calim . However , Memnon also would be released in the process , and the Third Era of Skyfire would begin . It was likely that the book that could free Calim was hidden in Acham ’ s laboratories in Almraiven , since that was where most of Corvus ’ s magical items materialized after Shahrokh destroyed the extraplanar space that they had been hidden in .