To Ralia of the Maps, change never comes to the village of Ouzaradade. Each day starts and ends exactly the same as the one before-until the day the stranger rides down from the mountains. Something about him calls to her, but when she seeks him out everything in the village changes. No one will admit to the stranger's existence, but she knows what she saw and she won't stop until she uncovers the stranger's secret and his link to Ouzaradade. Her desperate, dangerous search leads Ralia on a dangerous adventure to discover her past, her purpose, her magic and-perhaps-her future.

Karen L. Abrahamson returns readers to the early days of the world when Cartos, deim and human still walked the earth and the myth of Cartos demons formed in men's minds.