Wolf Lord against Earth King: the epic struggle begun in The Sum of All Men continues.
Gaborn has managed to drive off Raj Ahten, but the Wolf Lord is far from defeated. Striking at far-flung cities and fortresses and killing dedicates, Ahten seeks to draw out the Earth King from his seat of power, in order to crush him. But Gaborn is about to discover that his enemy is far from the brutal conqueror he imagined him to be. It seems that Raj Ahten has a very good reason for what he does – indeed, they may very well be on the same side.
Still, an agreement seems unlikely and as they weaken each other's forces in battle, the armies of an ancient and implacable enemy issue forth from the very bowels of the Earth...
1: The Voices of Mice
As King Gaborn Val Orden rode toward Castle Sylvarresta on the last day of Hostenfest, the day of the great feast, he reined in his horse and peered up the Durkin Hills Road.
Here the trees of the Dunnwood had been cleared back from the road, three miles from town. The sun was just rising, casting a sliver of silver light over the hills to the east, and the shadows of leafless oaks blotted the road ahead.
Yet in a patch of morning sun around the bend, Gaborn spotted three large hares. One hare seemed to be on guard, for it peered up the road, ears perked, while another nibbled at sweet golden melilot that grew at the margin of the road. The third just hopped about stupidly, sniffing at freshly fallen leaves of brown and gold.
Though the hares were over a hundred yards distant, the scene seemed preternaturally clear to Gaborn. After having been underground in the darkness for the past three days, his senses seemed invigorated. The light appeared brighter than ever before, the early morning birdsong came clearer to his ears. Even the way the cool dawn winds swept down from the hills and played across his face seemed new and different.
