A Novel of the Rigante.
The ghosts of the past stand close in an epic story that begins with a young man's avowal - "tell him that one day I shall cut his vile heart out." The speaker is Bane, a Wolshead living outside the law, known as Bane the Bastard - though none said it to his face. Born of treachery, his name a curse, he grew up among the warriors of the Rigante. They valued his skills in war, but they feared the violence in his heart.
Seventeen years after his birth, self-exile takes Bane to a rats' nest, seen by some to represent all that is eternal and holy: the Great City of Stone. Here where gladiators kill for a living, where learning and culture conceal an inner corruption and decay, the Crimson Priests have created a reign of terror by breeding enough malice and hatred to last a hundred lifetimes. Yet here, too, the beleaguered Tree Cultists, led by the mysterious Veiled Lady, endeavour to practise their philosophy of love and harmony.
Bane the Bastard prepares to join battle to destroy the Myth of Stone. And this son of an undefeated warrior king - Connovar - must fight to save his world.
