Evil has come to a distant land high among the snow-capped mountains of Midkemia. Razing village after village - slaughtering men, women, and children without mercy - an exterminating army wearing the colors of the Duke of Olasko puts a small nation to the sword. And when the carnage is done, one - and only one - survivor remains: a young boy named Kieli, who is a youth no longer.A life has been eternally altered, and now there is but one road for Kieli to travel: the path of vengeance. He will not be alone on his mission. The rescuers who discovered him wounded and near death are sworn to aid Kieli's revenge: Robert de Lys, a man of wealth and authority; Magnus, a sorcerer of uncommon - and unsettling - abilities; and Caleb, who, though scarcely older than Kieli, is already a hunter and a warrior without peer. Under their tutelage, Kieli will be molded into a sure and pitiless weapon, and shed completely his former name and existence to accept the destiny that has been chosen for him as Talon of the Silver Hawk.But the prey he so earnestly stalks is hunting him as well, and their numbers are many. And his mysterious benefactors have a secret agenda, for their fates - and Talon's - are inextricably bound to the Conclave of Shadows, an inscrutable society of magicians, assassins, and spies. Now Talon must swear allegiance to the same mysterious cause, of which he knows little, for it is shrouded in the shadows of his name. If he falters he will be abandoned, left to battle his enemies alone. And his mission, his honor, and his life will be lost forever. Read Less