Calesh Saissan is a captain of the Hand of the Lord, a military Order fighting in Tura d'Madai. But he has no faith in the God he seems to serve. The purpose of the Hand is to distract attention, so the All-Church will not notice the heresy growing in its homeland of Sartene. Now word has reached Calesh that the charade has failed. The heresy has been revealed, and the All-Church will turn its next Crusade west, into Sartene. So Calesh comes home, back to the land he left eleven years ago to escape the sorrows of his youth. Back to another war, this one for survival. With him come the soldiers of the Hand, ready to defend their homes. With him too comes his mixed-race wife, the half-Madai Farajalla. Waiting are his old friends, three men with whom he made legends once, and also the Lady of the Hidden House behind her veils of mystery. Together they must stand against the All-Church, or see their country burn.