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Synopsis
Set in the Fifth Millennium world collaboratively created by the author along with S.M. Stirling and Shirley Meier, this is Book II of the story of Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e, consummate warrior-general and the greatest ruler his people have ever known. Chevenga knows his destiny from a vision -- to preserve his people from barbarian invasions -- and he also knows his fate: to die at the hand of an assassin while still young. In his short life Chevenga has much to do, and little time to do it in. Driven out of the fertile plains millennia ago, the Yeolis have developed a thriving culture based on nonaggression. But mountain barriers cannot hold forever against a determined assault, and only one man holds the keys to liberation: Chevenga. But the Yeolis are a freedom-loving people —- they have no love for a strong leader, only distrust of power that must inevitably corrupt, and Chevenga is tested like no other. How far can you push a man, test him so he becomes the best he can possibly be? That is the measure of his soul.