Synopsis: Curse of the Wild Hunt - Three goddesses cursed them - this immortal band of princes, knights and commoners from different places and times who must spend eternity paying for the wicked acts of their mortal lives. Now they form the Wild Hunt, condemned to dreamless sleep until an arcane rite summons the doomed horseman forth to carry out an earthly mission of vengeance or destruction - and comlete it before the next full moon. Failure brings horrific, final death by fire; success, another sentence of sleep that can only be broken by a new command to ride the earth. Yet one sliver of salvation remains. If any warrior finds a love strong and powerful enough to break the curse, freedom is his. A new task... A slim hope - In the moonlit desolation of a ravaged countryside, the mystical, magical Wild Hunt responds to a humble peasant named Marda, who asks that her son be returned to her. He could be the prophesied "Child of Fire" who will lead the chosen to the land of light, but now he has been carried away by vicious barbarians. The accursed clan must ride deep into the trackless lands of the raiders, and march up to the pinnacles of power - royal and base alike - where roil treasonous conspiracies of greed and murder. As the crucial full moon looms, the Wild Hunt must take desperate action, for this mission, like all others, will make the difference between oblivion, eternal suffering - and blessed freedom. (from the back cover of the Avon Books first edition)