A krsnik keeps his friends close and his nightmares closer.

Licking his wounds from the earth-shattering battles in Seasons of the River?trying not to beat himself up over bringing his friends into harm's way again and again?Paul, the krsnik of the City of Rijeka, will find himself up to his ears in the biggest challenge of his life, one rising from an unexpected source, all but lost to memory.

His newfound duties as the magical protector of his city take him across the forests of his ancestral region, hot on the heels of missing tourists, misfortunate hikers, and new sorts of monsters lurking in the wilderness. All the while, messages keep appearing in his dreams, with next to no way to trace their origin in the waking world.

As the pleas keep getting more urgent, and no less incomprehensible, Paul will need to step up to his inheritance once and for all, follow the traces of his family legacy, and lean on his friends to guide him places he never would have dared venture on his own?or risk losing everything he's worked for, along with his own self.

Deep in the dark, a river flows...