Nevare Burvelle was destined from birth to be a soldier. The second son of a newly anointed nobleman, he must endure the rigors of military training at the elite King's Cavella Academy -- and survive the hatred, cruelty, and derision of his aristocratic classmates -- before joining the King of Gernia's brutal campaign of territorial expansion.
The life chosen for him will be fraught with hardship for he must ultimately face a forest-dwelling folk who will not submit easily to a king's tyranny. And they possess an ancient magic …