In most tales, the hero strives to escape death. In this one, he seeks her with wild and reckless abandon. Diarmuid, the warrior from Irish folklore, lives again in this book featuring all the characters and creatures of ancient Celtic - and a wee bit of Norse - mythology. Defeating a lawless group of bandits plaguing the town of Eillear in a bid to finally meet his fabled warrior's death, he finds himself unbested by any opponent. Unwilling to continue in such a life, he attempts to carve his own path to the feet of the Morrigan, goddess of Death and Chooser of the slain in battle. Taken up for dead, he is left to the expert ministrations of Qimmirea, Eillear's resident priestess and a practitioner of the Morrigan's rites with a devotion as deep as Diarmuid's own. Miri, as the villagers of Eillear call her, convinces him to remain among their people as a protector due to the loss of their village's elder patron, Gewinna. He agrees to stay in the hopes that, eventually, he will face a foe he cannot defeat.