Marcus Whitman is the squire of the Queen's Champion Sir Alexander Kenthal, a man who has forged himself into a living legend wielding a magicked blade of questionable origin. But when Sir Kenthal is given the impossible task of bringing a rogue sorcerer to justice, Marcus learns that the Champion may not be the hero the realm believes him to be. Tested by his lord's slow descent into darkness-and by an alluring sorceress whose own motives are unclear-young Marcus is caught up in a world of beauty and betrayal that threatens not only his life, but the fate of a nation as well.