In a land of lights and shadows of things that are and want to be, a nomadic tribe is threatened with certain doom. A darkness roams the northern steppes, crowned with horns, and yet enslaved. What powers lurk beyond the dangers that the roaming river-people will have to face as they battle for their survival in the east? Their new chieftain, Authaen, seems ill-prepared to meet the looming danger. Meanwhile, a mighty wanderer has trekked into the northern world from a faraway south. Gaba the wanderer is robed in strange attire, playing foreign melodies in a world that seems to make little sense. Together, he and Authaen will unravel the mysteries that are rooted deeply in the steppes over Middle-mere; mysteries that will lead to further secrets in a land of black forests, snow-clothed mountains, and hardy warriors: the Children of Imnir.