Sora, the High Chieftess of the Black Falcon Nation, has been banished by her own people until she can find healing for her broken spirit. Her seductive, murderous rampages have led to war with nearby clans and caused dissension in her own. If another body turns up, Sora will certainly be blamed - even her own clan will demand her death. Now facing her thirty-third winter, she and her husband Fint are wandering the land searching frantically for the means to cure her shattered soul. In the wake of the Eagle Flute Village massacre, Red Raven witnessed a woman murder Chief Short Tail of the Loon people in an exotic ritual. As word spreads, Sora is blamed, but a healer may have found a way to cure her and set her free. Only Short Tail's shadow-soul managed to find a home in his last breath, and, hell-bent on revenge, he'll do anything to put an end to Sora's life.