Nevair Barville is the second son of the second son, born to become a warrior. A wealthy young nobleman, he followed his father—King Gernia has recently granted him the title of lord—in joining the cavalry and studying the art of war at the Royal Academy of Cavella in the capital of Old Tares. Clever and well educated, an excellent rider—and, on top of that, promisingly engaged—Nevair’s future seems wonderful.
But while studying at the Academy, Nevair begins to understand that in truth everything is more complicated than he thought. The old aristocracy looks down on him as the son of a “new noble,” and, unprepared for the school’s and the city’s political intrigues, the young man finds himself trapped by injustice, discrimination, and unfair play. On top of these troubles, he is not given peace by his eccentric cousin Epini, who challenges his world view—until then unchanged—and by strange dreams that haunt him at night.
For twenty years, the Royal Cavalry had been conquering the plains, subduing the nomads, and colonizing the surrounding lands in Gernia’s glory. Now they have reached the Limit Mountains—the territories of the Specks, a quiet, forest people who keep the last fragments of magic in a rapidly developing world. From childhood, Nevair was taught that Specks are a primitive people, deserving pity for their backwardness, and he was terrified by the tribe’s primitive diseases, including the deadly Speck plague that devastated the nearest cities and military outposts.
The Evening of Darkness brings a carnival to Old Tares—and with it comes unknown magic and the Specks whom Nevair has seen for the first time…