Hundreds of myths surround the khafyri. They're powerful demons. They're mankind's saviors. They can heal with a touch or kill with a look. They cause famines, they cure plagues. They're monsters, or perhaps they're the hunters of monsters. Only one thing is certain: They're not human.

Twins Aderes and Jarond are human. Aderes helps their father breed and train majestic horses and Jarond's a guardsman at a small fief. But when they stumble across the shocking truth of the khafyri, they're forced to flee. Can two mere humans survive unscathed in a world where a secret, age-long war rages, where monsters command the kings and direct the armies?

As they seek to escape the country, they meet Asho, a young man gifted with strange, powerful new abilities that he is struggling to master under the tutelage of members of the mythical race of changelings. Will the three friends be able to reach freedom across the border before they lose their lives—or fall victims to an even darker fate?