A new gift to readers from the author of the acclaimed trilogy “Orcs: First Blood.” The novel is set on the island of Bealfa, where magic is available to both rich and poor, but the best part of it is usurped by the island authorities. Rith Kaldason, the novel's protagonist, a member of an outcast race, the last of a great tribe of warriors destroyed decades ago, is declared a criminal on Bealfa. Trying to get rid of a curse that causes attacks of blind rage, he goes in search of a remedy that will help overcome a mysterious illness. Circumstances bring him together with the sorcerer's apprentice, Kuch, and both find themselves drawn into a dangerous world of conspiracy and rebellion.