Lannick deVeers used to be somebody. A hero, even. Then, he ran afoul of the kingdom’s most powerful general and the cost he paid was nearly too much to bear. In the years that followed, his grief turned him into a shadow of his former self, and he spent his days drowning his regrets in tankards of ale. But now an unexpected encounter casts Lannick upon an unlikely path to revenge. If he can just find the strength to overcome the many mistakes of his past, he can seize the chance to become a hero once more. And with an ancient enemy lurking at the kingdom’s doorstep, he’d better…

The High King is dead. The Necrists and the Spider King wage war upon the kingdom while a mad general casts Rune’s soldiers to their deaths like stones to the sea. Desperation weighs heavily upon those few heroes who remain. Lannick and Brugan ride to rally an army of deserters. Zandrachus Bale seeks a banished Sentinel upon the dangerous steppes of Arranan. And Fencress Fallcrow watches in horror as Karnag succumbs to the demon possessing him. What faith survives in the absence of hope?