A stunning epic fantasy in the tradition of David Eddings, Janny Wurts and Robert Jordan. A thousand years ago the Acharites drove the Forbidden from their land. Now strange sightings along Achar's northern border foreshadow their return. the barbaric tribes of the Ravensbund are pouring south with tales of fearsome beings who feed on the terror of their prey. Winter has come early, and with it the promise of war. Axis, bastard son of the dead Princess Rivkah, is sent to the battlefront of Gorkenfort with his elite Axe-Wielders. Once there, he must hand over command to his hated half-brother, Borneheld. But travelling north, Axis falls in love with Faraday - Borneheld's bethrothed - and meets two priests who challenge the very essence of his beliefs. the Sentinels walk the land, the treeFriend has been found, and the people of the Plough, the Wing and the Horn must set aside their differences and unite under one leader against the evil rising in the North...'Douglass has the breadth of vision necessary to create sweeping epics and the storyteller's gift that makes readers love her.' - Locus the Axis trilogy Book 1. A stunning epic fantasy in the tradition of David Eddings, Janny Wurts and Robert Jordan. A thousand years ago the Acharites drove the Forbidden from their land. Now strange sightings along Achar's northern border foreshadow their return. the barbaric tribes of the Ravensbund are pouring south with tales of fearsome beings who feed on the terror of their prey. Winter has come early, and with it the promise of war. Axis, bastard son of the dead Princess Rivkah, is sent to the battlefront of Gorkenfort with his elite Axe-Wielders. Once there, he must hand over command to his hated half-brother, Borneheld. But travelling north, Axis falls in love with Faraday - Borneheld's bethrothed - and meets two priests who challenge the very essence of his beliefs. the Sentinels walk the land, the treeFriend has been found, and the people of the Plough, the Wing and the Horn must set aside their differences and unite under one leader against the evil rising in the North...'Douglass has the breadth of vision necessary to create sweeping epics and the storyteller's gift that makes readers love her.' - Locus the Axis trilogy Book 1.