WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Overall synopsis:

The village of Pike's Green is devastated by a brutal raid, carried out by the forces of the White Queen, an enigmatic sorceress whose heart of power lies far to the west. After defending their village, a band of young men journeys forth to join the war against her, leaving behind their home to venture into danger and the unknown.

This is not their story.

Years later, the Queen's War is over. The White Queen lies dead, though the land still bears the scars of her cruelty. This is a story of Martimeos, a wizard, and the younger brother of one of the men who left Pike's Green to join the war. His brother, unfortunately, never returned, and no one is certain what has happened to him, though most assume he is dead.

So Martimeos sets forth into lands wild and untamed, through places that bear the fading echoes of the catastrophic Queen's War, in search of his brother - even if all he expects to find at the end of his journey is an answer to how his brother died. Along the way, he meets new companions with dark pasts of their own. And slowly, as he follows the trail, he begins to learn of what his brother did during the war, and the sort of man he was.

BOOK ONE

THE GLIMMERLING:

We join Martimeos already some part of the way into his journey. He has searched the lands some time for his brother, but finds that the trail has grown cold. On the dubious advice of a daemon, he journeys to the cursed lakeside village of Silverfish. Along the way, he meets the swamp-witch Elyse, who proves an odd but reliable companion, one who insists on following him seemingly on a whim, though it becomes clear that she holds secrets of her own. As they journey to Silverfish, they find that its curse is dark indeed. Together, they face the origins of the village's tragedy.

THE BOGGE-RIDER:

Having won a clue to his brother's trail from Silverfish, Martimeos and Elyse journey together now to the town of Twin Lamps. They find the town terrorized and the farmlands haunted by a dread dark rider, fond of beheading his victims, one who wields grim and mysterious powers. They meet Kells, an easy-going member of the town guard, who agrees to guide them about the town and aids them in Martim's search for his brother's trail. But as Martimeos searches for clues about his brother, the dark rider's attacks only grow more bold and terrible, and it becomes clear that, whoever it is, Martim will not be able to move on from the town until the mysterious rider is dealt with.

HADLEY:

Moving on from Twin Lamps, Martimeos journeys with Kells and Elyse into the mountainous lands of the Crosscraw - barbarians who had served the White Queen, the very folk that bought ruin to his village of Pike's Green all those years ago. There he finds them hunted and pursued, slaughtered to near extermination, by a dark creature known as the Bogge-King. Martimeos struggles as he finds constant reminders of his painful past amongst the shattered remnants of the Crosscraw - and discovers the ultimate fate of one of his brother's traveling companions, who disappeared in the fire and fury of the Queen's War.