Darkness is growing in the north unnoticed as the lives of the free peoples pass uneventful. Life for Gerrole, Lathan, and Ogden is no different; while they spend a happy day away hunting, their peaceful existence in the little hamlet has been shattered. It is over . . . or has it just begun. They aren't ready for this, no one ever is. Given no time to grieve, they are taken in by the dwarves; they travel north through the mountains to the dwarves' land and then west, under the mountains and out across the plains. They encounter many of the Free Peoples and find a world very different from their sleepy little hamlet. Not everyone they meet is friendly, and they quickly learn life isn't always fair. Prejudice and lack of trust between people causes problems for them, and they are swept along the adventure seemingly without any ability to stop or change what is happening to them. Half-truths and hinted secrets are all they have to explain past events or where they are going. Their paths separate and each goes his own way, again without their ability to stop the changes, and they are set on the road to their future, they don't know where, they don't know why, they don't even know how . . .