Now a knight of Tortall, with her gender no longer a secret, Alanna embarks on her next adventure to the edge of the realm. Captured for the crime of trespassing, Alanna is sentenced to a duel to the death. But the Woman Who Rides Like a Man is not so easy to kill.

Though the duel is won, the battle is just beginning. When Alanna is named the Bazhir people’s first female shaman, she is tasked with training her successors. But first, she must overcome their fears of magic, for the sake of all Tortall.