"We thought we had... disposed of him some years ago," he said finally, breaking the interminable silence. "However, it would appear that we were mistaken."

David Deor is a naïve and Talented man — too naïve to realise when he's being used. Now he flees across the vast deserts of his home planet, hiding his unusual features from people who have every right to distrust him.

Cas is a mercenary, a single-minded man who'll take any job for the right fee, and David's enemies have deeper pockets than David could ever dream of.

David is trying to outrun his fate at the end of Cas's guns... but can he ever outrun his past?