As a favored son in one of the high families of Aquilonia, Nermesa Klandes wanted for nothing—except glory won by his own hand. Defying his family and casting aside the opulence he was born into, Nermesa joins the Aquilonian army so that he might serve his liege, King Conan. But Nermesa soon learns there is a great distance between his courageous idealism and the gory battlefields of the Westermarck, where the savage Picts wage unceasing warfare. Through bravery and cunning, Nermesa comes into his own as a warrior and a man. When he kills the Pictish leader, he is hailed as a hero. But he also unleashes an unholy power that will shake the very foundations of the Aquilonian Empire...

In the realm of Aquilonia, in the time when Conan was King, an idealistic nobleman seeks his destiny within the ranks of the greatest warriors in the land... Nermesa Klandes abandoned a life of opulence to join the Aquilonian army, and serve the great King Conan. Earning rank and respect through his courage and loyalty, he was made an officer in the elite warrior band known as the Black Dragons. But when his first assignment ends in bloodshed, it marks the beginning of the young knight’s most perilous test. Caravans from Aquilonia’s neighbors are being set upon and slaughtered by an unknown enemy. Assigned to ride with a caravan, Nermesa is pulled into a diabolical plot of dark magic and demonic powers that threatens to shake Aquilonia to its very foundations—and bring King Conan to his knees...

On the eve of his wedding, Nermesa Klandes uncovers a plot to kill Conan. And to his horror, he soon learns that the man chosen to do the murderous deed is a man whom King Conan trusts more than anyone—Nermesa himself.