The middle of the 17th century—life flows calmly and steadily in Linde-alley, Elistand, and Grosten’sholm—until Andreas, the son of Brand and the great-grandson of Tengel the Good, plowing his field, stumbles upon a terrifying discovery that will change the lives of all the families… And nearby them, in a dark hut of the executioner despised by everyone, lives a girl whose fate soon will intersect with the fate of the Ice People.