Dagger of Willow and Strike has waited a lifetime to return to the village of his birth. He's been promised the throne of Koradin, but getting captured by his treacherous sire wasn't part of the plan. Dagger needs a miracle to turn his childhood dreams into reality-And Grit of Berth and Stone might be that miracle. Unfortunately for him, Grit's stuck in the rival village of Thresh, and she's in way over her head. Having bluffed her way into commanding an army of incompetents, she's useless to Dagger if her new recruits don't learn the right end of a sword. To make matters worse, Dagger's sire seeks Grit's life, and there's no telling when he'll return to Thresh to finish what he started when he killed her dame. But freedom calls through shifting alliances, and neither Dagger's disillusionment nor Grit's doubt can keep the armies of Koradin and Thresh from war.