Terror descends into lands adjoining the Middle Sea on a two-mooned world called Trascera. Down out of the northern reaches, a vast hinterland of snow-laden plains and hard-eyed warriors, the Gyr are coming. Mysterious nomads, fierce and unrelenting in battle, the Gyr press south in their thousands, led, it is whispered, by Aachen Holt, an undead sorcerer, born some five centuries ago. Holt is adept in the art of dark casting, the sinister underbelly of the Yir, magic, as it is known on Trascera, and appears bent upon exacting a terrible revenge upon the peoples of the Middle Sea. At Alger Castle, sorcerer's apprentice Rynwicca Erryn finds herself ensnared by the schemes of Shadow Jak Horn, a rogue sorcerer sworn to thwart Aachen Holt at any cost. Aeryk Emyrt's sojourn beyond the Torean Mountains comes to a tragic end, placing the young Kylgahran laird directly in the path of Shadow Jak's bold plan. Ranyl Emyrt's solo quest into the Shyre Hills takes an unexpected turn when he stumbles upon a portal leading into the past. Then the Fates take a hand, bringing Rynwicca and the two Emyrt cousins together to confront an ancient evil. Revenge tastes sweet or so it is said but the hunger for it gnaws, remorseless and all-consuming. Vengeance or justice, hope or despair, which will mark the way ahead for the Highlanders of Kylgahra? All paths wind through a time of increasing change. Choices matter amid the tumult, more than in less turbulent days, and some bear hard edges, propelling those courageous enough to make them headlong the most daunting of consequences.