Their prophet dead and their home lost, the half-bloods Harruq and Qurrah Tun form a strained alliance with a band of mercenaries outside the city of Veldaren. As the brothers and their allies wage a private war against powerful thief guilds, forces greater than them all threaten to tear them apart and ruin any hope for a better life. Harruq must defend his family at all costs, for Qurrah's love of a girl with a shattered mind and the power of a goddess may doom them all.