In early medieval Poland, Iwa has never known life beyond the forest. She is part of the Bison Grass Clan, a group of hunter gatherers who follow the herds through the forest. Yet there is something in her blood that sets her apart. Her mother was not of the clan – a woman who was born in the far-off lands of the Polish lords that lie beyond the forest. She died giving birth to Iwa and there have always been rumours surrounding her birth, of strange magic and pacts with the dark forces of the world. When warriors from the Polish lands invade, seeking to carve a kingdom in the forest, Iwa’s world collapses. But their ambition awakens something ancient – an old power that should have remained buried. Shadows lengthen, the dead stir, and a banished sorcerer calls from beyond the veil. To save the forest – and herself – Iwa must confront the truth of her lineage and the dark legacy it carries. Between the fall of the old world and the birth of the new, she must decide what she will become: protector, destroyer... or the spark that consumes everything.