After a devastating military defeat, Numantia is ruled by a puppet government for a foreign king. Damastes, the empire's greatest general and the man who led so many to their deaths, languishes in prison awaiting his fate. But even he hears rumours that the powerful wizard Tenedos, the emperor drenched in the blood of his people, is not dead but is amassing a great army to take back Numantia.

Suddenly Damastes' skills as a soldier are at a premium: the turncoat government wants him to stand against Tenedos, and Tenedos wants him to lead his army. Forced to escape and flee, Damastes, tired of killing, wants only to return home. But no man can run from his destiny.