What would you do if you suddenly became both infinitely psychic and unable to tell even the smallest lie? And if you were also exiled from your homeland, destitute, and unhappily in love with a darkly seductive Elf who'd forced you to undertake an impossible quest? Such is the Fate of Tomas the Rhymer, the reluctant poet-hero of this historical fantasy, wherein the Celtic and Norse realms of Elves, gods and spirits converge with Viking Age Europe's real events and shifting world-views -- and evoke some haunting parallels with our own era's rapid changes.