Makeda, Supreme Archdomina of House Balaash, is known throughout the Iron Kingdoms for her leadership of the mighty Skorne Empire, but it was not always so… Before the coming of the Skorne Empire into the west, Makeda was little more than the second child of a great house, but through her will, determination, and adherence to the code of hoksune, she rose above all others. For the first time the secrets of both Makeda and her people are revealed in the tale of their Epic Struggle for honor and survival, Instruments of War.

The dire legend of Thagrosh Hellborne began in cold and darkness . . . Thagrosh has known nothing but bondage and grueling labor for all his adult life. Prisoners of Khadoran slavers, he and the other ogrun of his village have spent their lives toiling in the lightless depths of a mine. Yet Thagrosh and his brother Vargal have a plan to escape their misery and flee to the nearby nation of Rhul. When their bid for freedom is discovered, Thagrosh is forced to escape alone into the wilderness. Pursued by the brutal Khadoran overseer and his band of relentless trackers, Thagrosh flees ever deeper into the cold mountains. But he is not only running for his life—he feels an irresistible draw to a towering peak, where an ancient, unknowable power awaits the perfect vessel to make manifest its will upon Caen once again.