The Guardians of the Hundred, men and women who have died and been born again into power and immortality, were once pledged to protect the people and keep order. But for more than twenty years, a sinister influence has been corrupting them, and for the past two years, Lord Radas, one of the corrupt Guardians, has led a vast horde in pillaging the land, brutally slaughtering all who stand in its way. Those Guardians still loyal to their purpose are too few in number to overrule the will of their malevolent peers.The hopes of the Hundred rest with the eagle reeves, who have long patrolled the land, and with the militia commanded by Captain Anji, an outlander mercenary whose force has already saved one city from destruction.Massacres have decimated the eagle reeves' numbers, leaving them disorganized and scattered across the land. Joss, a reeve with a haunted past, can't deny the reeve council when they ask him to become their commander. In order for the reeves - and the Hundred - to survive, Joss must unite the surviving eagle reeves into a fighting force capable of defending their land.Captain Anji, a powerful leader with his own secrets, is nearly killed when Hari, a Guardian allied with the corrupt Guardians, catches him unarmed. But Mai, Anji's wife and Hari's niece, dissuades Hari from his plot, raising hope that the balance of power among the godlike Guardians may yet shift enough to break the control of their murderous power-hungry cabal.As all the resources of the Hundred are thrown into their fight for survival against the corrupted Guardians and their ravaging horde, a new threat is rising, one that no one saw coming. Read Less