Centuries before the time of the Sons of Destiny, a female shapeshifter became the leader of the people of the Shifting Plains.
Tava Ell Var never really knew her mother, but she did know about her tragic fate at the hands of a group of cruel shapeshifters--a history set down by Tava's father as a warning about life on the Shifting Plains. After her father is murdered, Tava encounters a Shifterai warband fighting to rid the Plains of the terrorizing bandits.
Shifterai leader Kodan Sin Siin is sympathetic about Tava's suffering, but he's determined to bring the wary young woman to the Plains. Because he knows her secret: She, like he and his men, is a shapeshifter. Once she joins them, he believes that she will see for herself the true fate that awaits her on the Plains, and most of all, lose her fear of his people. And, in time, she will find her place in their fight--and by his side.
