It is a time when rough herding tribes follow the prophet Kniva into battle to take land from the decadent Neoullian Empire. Charismatic Kniva discovers that his twisted oval talisman can bring the glory rites to help unite the seven feuding Glini tribes of the steppes so they can conquer the empire to the south. He is hailed as the prophet of a new religion. But can he survive until his fortieth year after his many contacts with the infinite?In a corrupt bid for peace, the Emperor offers up his spoiled daughter, Princess Opal, in marriage to the Hulgar, the Glini Chieftain. Now the angry sixteen-year-old has to learn to survive among the barbarian tribes. Amaelya, the demeaned and desperate Neoullian queen, has to pretend she was killed while she hides in a wretched hut in the mountains. Already over fifty, she searches for a way to stay alive, reclaim her identity, and regain her empire. Follow the clash of two wildly different cultures. Explore the mysterious and magical power of the infinite. Consider the humanity of each character's ongoing struggle to reach self-knowledge. The old powers never quite go away.