The Wild existed in beautiful and ruthless perfection—until the people came. Generations past, disaster drove the people to seek a new home on a wild continent that had never before known a human presence. Spirits of wind, stream, forest, and mist inhabit this land, but these beings care nothing for the people, and some are cruel and hostile. Siddél is a power among these spirits. He is thunder and lightning, he is the storm—and he despises all people. He has resolved to drive them from the land and for this purpose he created the arowl—mad, ravening beasts with an unquenchable hunger. Arowl are abominations. They hunt all creatures, while craving human flesh above all else. Bennek is a young warrior, skilled at hunting arowl and eager to slay any that dare venture into the Protected Lands. But he longs for greater deeds. One morning, in the cold blue hour before sunrise, an owl spirit visits, urging Bennek, along with his brother and cousin, to take on a perilous quest. The three youths must find the Snow Chanter—an ancestral spirit that they had thought long gone from the world. History teaches that the Snow Chanter was an enemy of Siddél. If she still exists, might her power help to bring him down? Bennek is determined to find out. With his kin, he sets off to seek for her. But other forces are stirring. As the trio ventures north into a dangerous land overrun by arowl, they chance to meet a strange young woman—a sorceress, with ambitions even greater than their own.