Young Talon is mentored by Onsai Rayven and guided by Firesmyth Mancuso into adulthood. As commander of a border guard garrison on the Long Wall in the Andril Mountains, he and his friends discover a new and bolder Salmonil invasion plan. Running out of time and hounded by an assassin, they must warn King Ronwell, who is blinded by denial. But the test of adulthood comes in more than just one form; Talon must overcome the difficulties of his orphaned past and in so doing discovers what it really means to walk in the ways of a Firesmyth.