The first book in a new trilogy from the author of the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies.
The two-hundred-year war between the kingdoms of Vania and Landsing end with the Landsingers left in possession of Vania's rich coal and coast territories.
Assuming the throne of Vania 30 years later, King Troven sets out to restore her greatness, not through war, but by colonising the wilderness to their east. Over the next twenty years, the rolling plains - formerly inhabited by nomadic herders and tribesmen - are subdued, and Troven rewards his loyal military by making them nobles.
Beyond the new frontier of Varnia, the heavily forested Barrier Mountains is home to enigmatic Specks - a dappled, forest-dwelling people, unable to tolerate the heat and full sunlight of the plains. The Varnians find the Specks slightly dim-witted and yet strangely difficult to control. Tales that they are 'blood-drinkers' who worship ancestral trees pose difficulties for those who wish to harvest the forest's exotic timber. The Specks also harbour strange diseases. Illness that causes the Specks little more than a week of discomfort frequently kills those settlers and soldiers who fall victim to it. For that reason, contact with the Specks - and especially intimate contact - is judged both foolhardy and disgusting.
Nevare Gerar, son of one of King Troven's new lords, is in training at the King's Cavalry Academy, emulating his father. A commission as a cavalry officer at the frontier and an advantageous marriage await. Will fate intervene?
