Tani's world has never been peaceful. Torn between the many cultures that meet on the Chorhan Expanse, the greatest threat they now face is an expansionist army of monstrous nonhumans who call themselves the mansthein.
To take her place as a full warrior of her tribe, Tani must travel across the vast grasslands of the Chorhan Expanse. But she has her sights set higher than a mere ritual journey: She wants to uncover a solution to the impending war that threatens her people. 
Tani believes that peace may be possible, but there are others on both sides who believe in legends that tell of monsters with zealous devotion. All around her, warriors have their eyes on a glorious victory with no concern for the piles of bodies they'll create on the way.
She will be joined by a killer pretending to be a healer, a mansthein commander struggling with his orders, a thief who pawned her heart of gold, and a strategist exiled from a foreign land. But none of them are the Hero. 
It doesn't matter how many shades of gray might exist, some people see only in black and white. And the terrifying truth is that the stories they tell might not be just legends.