Waylander finds himself hunted by the Dark Brotherhood and the hounds of chaos after being betrayed by Kaem, and learns the only hope of saving himself and the Drenai lands is to retrieve the legendary Armor of Bronze from its hiding place in a shadow-haunted land.

The cunningly insane emperor of Drenai menaces his people, and only Tenaka Khan holds the power to break his tyrannical rule, but he must overcome his heritage--a legacy of warring clans--and survive a life-or-death challenge.

An evil city, banished into limbo, starts to appear after a thousand years when the once powerful spells that held it there start to wane. Waylander, the assassin hero of some of Gemmell's earlier books, returns, but he has now reached middle age, and is more interested in peace than trouble.

The Drenai fortress of Dros Delnoch has fallen and Nadir hordes sweep across the land bringing desolation and despair. When slavers kidnap a young girl from her village, a peasant boy sets off on a quest to free her and his world of Nadir domination. With him are the legendary heroes of Bel-Azar.

Druss, an old man, and Rek, a top swordsman, band together with the citizens of Dros Delnoch to defend the city against the thousands of invaders of Nadir.

In the second volume in a trilogy set during the Trojan war, Agamemnon tightens his control of the lands around Troy, Achilles prepares to test his godlike strength in battle, and odysseus is cnfronted with a terrible choice between friendship and honor.