Danger lurks in the western realms. The Destroyer's imminent return has sent the realms into turmoil as desperate citizens seek refuge--but there's no safety to be found when demons and wraiths crawl out from the shadows. Even Koth, a northern island kingdom left untouched by the Destroyer a generation past, is besieged by terrors spawned from corrupt magics.
When Lizzan leads the Kothan army against these terrors, only to see her soldiers massacred and to emerge as the only survivor, she is called a coward and a deserter. Shunned from her home, Lizzan now wanders in solitude as a mercenary for hire, until she encounters a group of warriors seeking new alliances with the northern kingdoms--a group that includes Aerax, the bastard prince of Koth, and the man who sent her into exile.