Publisher's Synopsis
For over thirty years Raan, master assassin and perfect harbinger of death, has lived in torment. Each night is filled with the same nightmare, as he relives the slaughter of his family. On that day, the youth who until that moment thought his life would be spent joyfully on the back of a horse, watched helplessly as Ord the Conqueror butchered his father, his mother and finally his young brother. Di a' pur's broad main thoroughfare turned red that day, his family's blood filling the spaces between its worn cobblestones.The resulting stain was not limited to the stone. It tainted Raan's soul, growing darker without respite, until it transformed into an almost unbearable hatred. But Ulnar, the Father of Assassins, held his flaming anger at bay, forbidding Raan from ever seeking the revenge he knew he must have. And Raan kept his word to the Father, knowing that the only path that could save him, and possibly ease his pain, would surely destroy him and all he cherished. Decades of hellish nightmares passed.Finally, after meeting an ancient evil mage, Raan succumbs to his inner demons, and embarks on a perilous journey, with every step chancing damnation. He makes a deal with a devil and entwines his Guild's very future with his own foul destiny. His long dormant wrath is unleashed on a King and his kingdom, as gold passes hands, sealing his and his Guild's fate. In the dead of winter, he and his protege, Louis, descend the high mountains, their futures as bleak as the land they traverse. Only death and sorrow await them.
