Generations ago, ships full of refugees from a vast war accidentally blew into a narrow, sheltered harbor between the cliffs of two mountain ranges. The people called the vast and fertile valley beyond the harbor the Vale and settled there. The Vale was also home to wild animals, dragons, and magical creatures called elves...and magic. As the years passed, humans with no actual magical talent came to be born with a Gift--a single ability. Among the Gifted, only healers are widely accepted, but for others fear and distrust has led to prejudice, persecution, and even murder. Although elves, humans and dragons essentially live in peace together, the nearly immortal elves are intent on preserving the Vale's isolation from the rest of the world. At any cost. Shak is anything but a simple soldier with a clear-cut mission in life. He's consumed with the relentless need for revenge against a man who was once his best friend. But that obsession is far from his only. Shak can't forget he'd abandoned two helpless children during a battle. Though the deed that he can't forgive himself for happened in the past, far from changing, he can't get past it...until his grandmother, a witch, offers him the chance to redeem the dishonorable act. Those same children he'd left to their fate are in dire straits. To rescue them, he must travel to the mysterious and treacherous Crystal Valley and then find a way to get them back where they belong. Further complicating his life, the Crystal Valley holds a secret that threatens two armies, and Shak alone can save them. With an unequivocal mission staring him in the face, he discovers his enemy is close by--actually following him--and vengeance could at last be his. At a crossroads, he has no choice but to determine which task he'll undertake... and which to give up forevermore.