No advantage lasts forever. Once, the sky belonged to the dragons and the land belonged to the dwarves. Then the elves grew strong in magic and in numbers. They battled the dragons to extinction and banished the dwarves beneath the earth. They wrote the history books for ten thousand years. But the fair folk decline. Enemies new and old test the defences. The caprans are masters of the horse-nobody knows where they come from. And the humans of the Northlands are always looking for weakness. Something in Snow Mountain threatens the realm. Meerwen Elanesse will need more than her fists if she's to defeat it. Meanwhile, Angrod Veneanar made a promise to Arawn, the king of the caprans, and now the king is out to collect. Angrod must spend a year in his place, disguised as him, and whether Angrod will survive is anyone's guess. This is the winter of elvenkind. Their golden age is done. But the crown prince and his lady are young and untested at the moment. Win or lose, they'll show their foes what elves are made of.