Daystar and Shadow

From the back cover of the DAW Books first edition: Daystar was a wanderer in the desertland that had been once been America. The terrors of that arid new world were the monster fireworms whose tentacles were death, but they held no horror for him, for he could call upon them for protection. Daystar was a fugitive from the bands of civilized men who regarded him as a traitor. Nevertheless Daystar saw himself as their savior, though the evidence was all against him. Shadow was a girl, another wanderer in the wastelands, When the two finally met and joined minds, the world would be transformed and the final struggle for Earth's dominion would be launched.