The second book in this richly imagined fantasy series finds the engaging young Lucas on another action-packed journey in a long-ago world where peril, adventure, and excitement wait around every corner. When Lucas awakens one morning on a riverbank, he has no memory beyond scouting for thieves with his fellow chosen comrades the evening before on King Itan's land. He is disoriented, and a poisoned dart is protruding from his neck. Although he's undoubtedly someone's target, when King Itan asks Lucas to set out to spy on Itan's enemy, King Boran, Lucas readily obeys. Before the end of Lucas's perilous journey, he is reunited with his friends in the traveling circus, barely escapes an attack by the Dark Order, and discovers a nefarious plot by King Boran to take control of the land. Lucas realizes that the only way to save his people will be to surrender himself to the enemy and hope that King Boran won't kill him-believing the prophecy that anyone who kills Lucas will also die a horrible death. Relevant to our tumultuous times, this page-turning young adult novel weaves together a compelling set of well-drawn characters and delivers a roller coaster of events that will leave readers breathless as they follow Lucas's quest to do right and fulfil his destiny.