Nevare Burvelle is the second son of a second son, destined
from birth to carry a sword. The wealthy young noble will
follow his father—newly made a lord by the King of
Gernia—into the cavalry, training in the military arts at
the elite King's Cavella Academy in the capital city of Old
Thares. Bright and well-educated, an excellent horseman with
an advantageous engagement, Nevare's future appears golden.
But as his Academy instruction progresses, Nevare begins
to realize that the road before him is far from straight.
The old aristocracy looks down on him as the son of a "new
noble" and, unprepared for the political and social
maneuvering of the deeply competitive school and city, the
young man finds himself entangled in a web of injustice,
discrimination, and foul play. In addition, he is disquieted
by his unconventional girl-cousin Epiny—who challenges his
heretofore unwavering world view—and by the bizarre dreams
that haunt his nights.
For twenty years the King's
cavalry has pushed across the grasslands, subduing and
settling its nomads and claiming the territory in Gernia's
name. Now they have driven as far as the Barrier Mountains,
home to the Speck people, a quiet, forest-dwelling folk who
retain the last vestiges of magic in a world that is rapidly
becoming modernized. From childhood Nevare has been taught
that the Specks are a primitive people to be pitied for
their backward ways—and feared for their indigenous
diseases, including the deadly Speck plague, which has
ravaged the frontier towns and military outposts.
The
Dark Evening brings the carnival to Old Thares, and with it
an unknown magic, and the first Specks Nevare has ever seen
. . .
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