Sundered into simmering kingdoms, the island continent of Sornem has forgotten the meaning of peace, cycling through battle after battle, from within and without.
Each conflict, each evil act feeds another power—one far greater than any man, any elf, any dwarf or gnome—lurking just beneath the surface, tainting and twisting the hearts of all mortalkind.
They call it the “Eater of Dreams”.
Looming shadows follow Keengrim on his travels around Sornem, but never so much as when he returns to the sprawling Compass, the city at the conjunction of four kingdoms. He resides in the darker haunts, laying low to avoid the scrutiny of the Golden Meridian and their sanctions—and worse condemnations—against those born with a connection to the influxus, the manipulation of natural elements. This visit proves no different, finding him blackmailed into grand thievery to retrieve a supremely rare ore for a Consortium professor. Except… he soon discovers he’s not the only one with an interest in the precious mineral. His competition, as charming as she is devious, sends him spiraling head-first into a maelstrom of no return.
Cyphers, chosen for their inborn ability to manipulate a natural element—the influxus— and trained in the ways of an investigator and warrior, they enjoy a special authority throughout Sornem. Recognized almost universally as the arbiters of universal laws, they cross kingdom boundaries to carry out their tasks in groups of three to investigate crimes, compile the evidence and determine guilt or innocence.
As a cypher, Sherdon of Gellar-in-Hvall is trained in the ways of an investigator and warrior, enjoying special authority throughout Sornem. He crosses kingdom boundaries to carry out his tasks within a group of three, investigating crimes, compiling the evidence and determining guilt or innocence. However, two members of Sherdon’s triad perished. In his haste to return to his masters and report his failure, he grows careless. That carelessness feeds him into the hands of the Midrathian War Marshal, a man who cares little for his protests against being detained as a “spy for Dathlel” or only “one of three”. In fact, the War Marshal “insists” he resolve a particularly complicated murder—not one on the battlefield, but within the military camp itself, and one that hints at sinister impulses.
Can Sherdon extract himself from his own dilemma and still see justice prevail, or will his own reticence doom him?
Laevh knows loneliness. She travels by herself to conceal her cursed abilities, on her way to seek the assistance of a famed savant. Every time fate forces her to use her ability, trouble homes in. This time, that trouble comes as two sides of the same tarnished copper coin. The first: a horrifying beast threatens the villeins locked away when darkness falls, quaking under the threat of its prowling their villages at night. The second: the viciously shrewd Duc du’Mauntegne, general of the Mad Queen’s army, who wrongfully charges her with the crime of murder but gives her a simple trial—help him solve his dilemma with the beast, and she walks free. That is, if she can survive…
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