When the son of Baron Lothar Aquilena of the Border Princes is taken captive, he calls in a debt of honour owed to him by Duke Carrard of Quenelles – once his brother-in-arms and now his bitter rival.

This uneasy alliance of warrior knights mounts a dangerous expedition into the lifeless desolation beyond the badlands to a forgotten realm cursed to know neither water nor shade. The baron's son is held captive in the Land of the Dead, and the kings and queens of old do not rest easy in their tombs.