It is the aftermath of the Chain of Dogs. Coltaine, revered commander of the Malazan 7th Army, is dead. And now Tavore, sister of Ganoes Paran and Adjunct to the Empress, recently arrived at the last remaining Malazan stronghold of the Seven Cities, must take charge. Untested and new to command, she must hone a small army of twelve thousand soldiers, mostly raw recruits, into a viable fighting force and lead them against the masses of Sha'ik's Whirlwind. In distant Raraku, in the heart of the Holy Desert, the seer Sha'ik waits with her increasingly restless rebel army. And waiting is never easy, especially when a disparate collection of warlords is locked in a vicious power struggle that threatens to tear the rebellion apart from within. And Sha'ik herself suffers, haunted by the private knowledge of the one she knows is her nemesis...