Winter has come to the Varchinde and with it, the fatal spread of the blight. The grass is dead, the cities are falling and the Kas take their chance to rise from Rammouthe.   Betrayed by his own forces, Rhan will abandon Fhaveon to lure the Kas into a final confrontation.   As battle rages round him, Ecko realises that to save the Varchinde, he must face the greatest threat of all - the one that has come from his own world.