Battle summer rages north of the Middle Sea on a two-mooned world called Trascera. Sporadic skirmishing along the border between the Kingdom of Syrdis and the Tieran Empire has evolved into full-scale war. General Quintus Glabrio Jens seizes upon the element of surprise to launch a daring offensive. A brave gambit, but the outcome remains an open question. For the men under Glabrio's command, including Mat Bayrd and the rest of the Three Rivers archers, the answer seems destined to be written only in blood. Whatever danger Glabrio faces in combat with the Syrdisians pales in comparison to his illicit romance with Princess Lydia Sylvus Gant, younger sister of Gaius Sylas Endryk, the hard-eyed emperor of Tier. Qwyk the Thief has proven a resourceful, if somewhat reluctant, spy. Qwyk's had a bellyful of soldierly derring-do and is anxious to return to civilian pursuits. His continued association with the beautiful but enigmatic Alyira Solys, protégé to the cold-hearted sorcerer, Elyas Warron, likely guarantees Qwyk's non-military activities will be no less hazardous. Bodewhin Ware and Jaryd Hume, accompanied by legendary sorcerer Sebastyn Card embark upon a quest that leads them to the site of the lost city of Mayne. Amid the ruins, they are confronted by an evil as potent as it is ancient. A reunion foretold awaits Bode, and Sebastyn too is destined to encounter a shadow from his past in a moment he has both longed for and dreaded for more than a century. To the soldiers of the empire, duty is all, and their travails reflect upon a world swept by rapid, widespread change. Choices matter amid the tumult, more than in less turbulent days, and some have hard edges, propelling those courageous enough to make them into the most daunting of consequences.