Then he dropped a sleeping dart into his blowpipe and once again cast both inner and outer ears to the ruckus rushing closer, closer. He stooped to grab his kit, lashing his furs to his satchel and slinging it and his fighting sticks across his back. The approaching racket might be nothing more than an animal on the hunt, but he dare not take that chance. A second sound reached his ears then, a physical one this time: dull hoof beats and snapping branches, faint but rising by the moment. He unwove the branches of his shelter with an impatient mental hum and stepped out into the first light of day. Had a human dared to cross into their lands?Īyden’s lips pulled back from his teeth in a grin entirely void of humor. He sniffed the air as he listened, detecting nothing but a faint whiff of last night’s cook-fire, the loam of the forest floor, the comforting scents of the massive red cedars and the stream running by his campsite.Īnd there was the wrongness, the faintest whisper of jagged notes worming through the forest song. He shoved his furs aside and tuned his inner ear to the forest’s song-the bass hum of the trees, the trills of insects-a thousand points of sound merged in near-perfect harmony. Note: This is a second edition originally published elsewhere. For nothing less than the fate of both their peoples rests on the power of their perseverance-and their love. Teetering on a dagger’s edge between duty and high treason, Freyrik discovers that some choices can change a life, and some an entire world.īetween prejudice, politics, pride, and survival, Ayden and Freyrik must carve a new path, no matter how daunting. Freyrik’s always known elves to be beautiful and dangerous, but never has one affected him as deeply as Ayden. When he’s captured in battle, he is enslaved in the service of a human prince, Freyrik Farr. The midlands are rotting with decadence and despair.Įlfkind, estranged by past crimes, watches and waits for nature to run its course.Īyden’s life has long been guided by two emotions: love for his sister, and hatred of all things human. The outlands are soaked with the blood of the fallen. Depleted by generations of war with a race of dark beasts, humanity stands on the brink of extinction.

Counterpoint by rachel haimowitz