When Mira Kaul's parents are killed by a troll, she is forced to serve the whims of the town's prickly miller, Shem Langheart, because no one else will take in another mouth to feed. Now at age eighteen, she seems doomed to remain as a maidservant to an ungrateful guardian and his nosy son, Jarin.

But one night, a riderless horse wanders out of the forest near her home. Its saddle bears the insignia of clan warriors from the north who guard Trollgate Pass. Has the pass been overrun?

The miller fears an attack is coming . . . but Mira can't just leave the warrior out there in...