'Must Tremen healing bow before Terak swords?
'Kira's deepest fears are realized when the Tremen are forced from the forests to join the devastating conflict on the plain.
'To add to her guilt, she can't remain with the people she leads but must go north. Sarnia has no healing, and if the fighting spreads, their wounded will die.
'Leaving behind those she loves, she endures the perilous journey back to Sarnia, only to confront powerful forces determined to keep the ways of the despised Healer Kasheron out of the city.
'As Kira fights to create a place of healing, aid comes from an unexpected quarter, but a healing place without fireweed will save no lives.
'Kira's search for fireweed grows increasingly desperate and then her worst nightmare comes true when the person she loves most in the world is mortally wounded.
'As the fighting drags on and winter deepens, the injured flood in and Kira's struggle to save them takes a deadly toll.
'In the south, the Shargh tribes join, and Tierken makes a terrible mistake that puts Sarnia at risk. Distrust weakens their forces and as the bloodshed grows, treachery promises to deliver a Shargh victory.
'And then, as Tierken and his men fight for their very existence, word reaches him that Kira's life hangs in the balance. Faced with a terrible dilemma, he makes a choice that risks the destruction of his leadership in the north
'Kira flees to the healing settlement of Kessom but to reach its sanctuary, she must navigate the raging torrent that claimed Tierken's father.
'Will Kira survive to reach the healing she so desperately needs? Or will her journey end in the watery darkness?'
Source: Publisher's blurb.