Rosteval lusts for the warrior’s path, the spoils of victory, and an ancient power that could help him lead his tribe to greatness.

Denied the right to inherit his father’s chieftaincy by his iron-fisted grandfather, Rosteval knows he must forsake the steppe-lands of his home and travel across the great desert to the fabled lands of the south: a world of palaces and pleasure-gardens, living gods, beautiful women… and the slave-girls he needs to reward his war-band.

His journey leads him to a warrior mystic and a slave-girl who could help him master a dangerous spirit at an ancient altar, an artifact of the vanished Shaper race.

But crossing the desert may be easier than escaping his grandfather, who is sending an army and his own champion to master the spirit and claim the fateful power of the ancient Shaper altar…