A dark secret stalks young dwarf Taneyth Grouvenson. He and his mother reside in the small remote outpost of Merrtop, which guards a gate to the massive underground dwarven tunnel system. His father disappeared before he was born and the little family has stayed in the last place they saw him, never giving up hope for his return. But blind hope is not enough to hold Tanyeth there and one night the beardling runs away with a group of passing dwarven mercenaries, The Sky Blues. As they travel he experiences firsthand the machinations of war, the fickleness of other races and the awakening of his own dark secret.