Evan Winter

Queen Tsiora is a young and unproven leader, so her willingness to ignore the caste system of the Omehi people is making her a lot of enemies. She prefers to name the most capable people to key roles and that includes Tau, who has been named Queen's champion even though he is a lesser. Decisions like that have sparked a rebellion as the Noble caste resists her changes and offers up her sister as the "true queen." This would be problem enough for any ruler, but it is happening at a time when the Omehi people are about to be attacked by a stronger enemy, so fighting amongst themselves is only going to result in their ultimate doom. This dire scenario is bad for the Omehi people, but it is an opportunity for Tau. This infighting provides him a path to the revenge he seeks against Abasi Odili, the Noble who killed his father. Abasi is leading the rebellion in order to maintain the status quo that gives him a permanent advantage over lessers like Tau, and therefore Queen Tsiora has ordered Tau to kill him. That will be no easy task but Tau is ready to sacrifice everything, and everyone, to make it happen.

The Omehi people have a caste system and Tau Solarin was born at the bottom of it. That makes him a lesser just like his father. The bad news for lessers is that the Omehi have been fighting an unwinnable war for hundreds of years and the lessers are front line fodder in that conflict. However, Tau has a plan. He is not a violent person, but he is a determined one, so he is willing to go to great lengths to live his full life. When he comes of age, and it is time for his testing, he plans to purposely sustain a permanent injury to keep him out of the war. Better to be maimed than to die early in the war. Tau is young man with the determination to make such a sacrifice; however, he never gets the chance. Before his testing day arrives, those closest to him, including his father, are brutally murdered by a few members of the noble class. Nobles are bigger, stronger, and better trained than lessers so his father never had a chance. Tau's rage knows no bounds and he decides to twist his determination into a new plan. Become the greatest warrior his people have ever known, and then kill the nobles responsible for the death of his father. Of course, Tau is still a lesser and determination alone is not enough to overcome the odds stacked against him...