Book excerpt: In a world long ago ravaged by the fires of war, a new empire has been forged. Rising from the ashes of what once was, it serves to enfold the last vestiges of humanity. Now, however, its reigning sovereign declares that all who do not share in his own understanding of faith are to convert, or be put to the stake. From the chaos that ensues, two arise who strike back at their oppressors, and set into motion the wheels of prophecy. Two young women, sisters separated at an early age, raised within the wild as a part of nature herself, find themselves caught in extraordinary circumstances, and drawn ever closer within the web of fate. Together they shall give back to the land its freedom, and its soul.