Logen Ninefiingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught up in one feud too many he's about to become a dead barbarian, leaving nothing behind but bad songs and dead friends. Jezal dan Luther, paragon of selfishness, has nothing more dangerous in mind than winning glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. -- back cover.