In an unforgiving world of musket and canon, wizardry, empire and blood oaths, Konowa Swift Dragon, former commander of the elite Iron Elves, is destined for greatness or disgrace. Marked by the Shadow Monarch, he's murdered a Viceroy, seen his beloved regiment dishonoured and disbanded and been exiled to the deep forest, the place he despises most.But for Konowa - part hero, part renegade - that is only the beginning. Recalled from exile and ordered to re-form the Iron Elves for an almost certainly suicidal mission, he sets out with a company of misfits, rebels and outcasts. For the Shadow Monarch has harnessed destructive forces with the power to tear worlds apart - and those who bear her mark have a destiny greater than they know...