On the run from Aislin, Alaysha and her comrades enter the burnt lands only to suffer the real threat of starvation and thirst. If she could find a way to use the approaching travellers for her good, Alaysha is sure they'll all be saved. But when the fellow travellers turn out to be a caste of Enyalia who have no use for men save the one ritual they abduct them for, their salvation quickly shifts to a bid for freedom as Alaysha must find a way to save all her men from certain death.