If it had been up to Jon, he never would have left Crystal City. But the Fen children had finally broken through the city walls. And the Okalian way would survive only if some of the Okalians survived. So Jon sets out into a strange new world. He's been told to find the Ancient Land, where Okalian civilization began. But he hasn't been told of the horrors he will have to face in the cold Wilderness in order to get there. Now he must face the fact that everything he's been taught might be a lie -- a lie he must face for everything to survive.