The lists have never thundered like this before.
Dust clouds billow across the jousting grounds of Thaloria, veiling the trampled banners and broken lances of yesterday. Now, only a few hundred riders remain from the thousands who had answered the horns. The hedge knights and dames had fought with more grit than grace, but the semifinals had no patience for underdogs. They were gone, each one eliminated in valiant bouts that left the crowd breathless.
Under the shadow of Thaloria's high towers, the great houses array themselves once more. Cloaks ripple in the wind. Drums echo like distant thunder. And in the Northern Lists, where the banners of Frostmark Province hang like proud and fierce direwolves, the Third Prince Cain mounts his steed.
She is a sleek black bay mare with red eyes th
