At the birth of civilization, God gave humankind the Cornerstone to hold their lands out of the sea. But it was stolen by giants, dooming human lands to a slow deluge and starting a race war that has lasted centuries.

As a boy, Summ Voight was obsessed with maps: old, yellowed charts showing the vast and ancient human kingdoms now drowned under the advancing seas, lost to the Long War against the giants and their elven allies. As the tides rose against his own home city, he swore to bring the Long War to an end.

Now, as an aging and weary marshal, he faces the reality that humankind is losing the Long War, hobbled by weak leadership and pressed against a hostile wilderness thronging with the foe. How far will he go to keep the oath he made as a boy?

A mash-up of epic high fantasy and hard, gunpowder fantasy, this novel from J. Nelson Leith (originally serialized at his website) follows the campaign of the Shadow Conclave, a rogue gathering of human and dvergan warriors, as they seek a path through a hostile wilderness to recover a divine artifact stolen centuries ago by the giants of the Far Mountains. Can they recover the Cornerstone before humankind is lost to the seas it once held in check?

PART ONE: INCIDENT AT QOL MURIKH

Prologue

Chap. 1 : Conclaves