The Faerzen offensive has collapsed. Aura is trapped behind enemy lines, Liz is missing, presumed captured, and every passing second is a second that their lives hang in the balance. With the clock mercilessly ticking, Hiro readies the Crow Legion for its first true engagement. But right from the start, some things don't add up. Who is really pulling the strings of this war? And as Hiro rides into the battle-scarred west, he unwittingly draws closer to his greatest challenge yet: a renegade princess hellbent on revenge, wielding the fearsome Gáe Bolg.