Finalist in the 2017 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off contest! It has been nearly two decades since Pell Wendt abandoned the power and prestige of Collum. Ruled by the semi-divine Ajudicar, the city had been his home all his life, but no longer. Spurned by the woman he loved, the former pathfinder, adventurer and criminal walked away from his life of escorting promising youngsters to the shrines of power, and retreated to his farm in the Sogras, to live a life of bitter and brooding rejection. Now, House Kettiburg has reached out with a an offer he can't refuse: a pilgrimage to Skara, a mythical and dangerous shrine far out in the barbarous Outlands, for the supplicant Keilie - the daughter of the very woman who rejected him. Trapped by the love his heart cannot deny, Wendt agrees to the pilgrimage and finds himself embroiled in intrigue and betrayal, with far-reaching implications for himself, Keilie, and the tattered remains of the human race.

Keilie Kettiburg has never chosen the easiest path in life. Born with a rare power locked inside of her, and with the help of the veteran pathfinder Pell Wendt, Keilie made the arduous and dangerous journey to the remote shrine of Skara, where her true gifts were unlocked. With Wendt's help, Keilie overthrew the tyrannical Ajudicar of Collum and assumed a benevolent rulership of the city. Ten years have passed. Now, a new threat has risen in the a horde of fanatical reavers intent on burning Collum to ashes. With her powers stripped and few remaining choices, Keilie is forced to plead for Wendt's help in stopping the horde. Broken and riddled with terminal disease, Wendt agrees and the two set off on a perilous journey into the unknown. Nobles scheme, and new and old dangers await as the pair draw closer to the devices of terrible destructive power, only spoken of in dreaded, whispered tones ... The old weapons ...