When sixty-eight young women must give themselves as "tokens of peace" to the warriors of Chal Duresta, aging midwife Mure struggles to protect them all?her daughters in name, if not in body.

Protect them from the dangers of pregnancy, of travel, and the monsters in the wilds of Chal Duresta. Most of all, from the Challi men who now own them.

But at night, Mure dreams of wings. Something calling to her from the heart of the wilds.

And here, at the edge of the land of monsters, Mure sees change coming: change like fire, and the roar of a rushing wind.