Wicked Winter

In the medieval realm of Noediem, Francois Cassel serves as squire to the knight Lauchant. When Lauchant rides south with a company of the King's Guard to clear the region of a band of raiders from neighbouring Ballenrue, he is wounded in a clash with them. Francois then drives the raiders off in terror.

King Rochfer rewards Francois with a knighthood for his deeds, but sends him to study under the high priest Yulhara, who is to teach him about the strange powers he has shown. Yulhara casts Francois out of Noediem on an alleged misdemeanour, and he travels west into Wuntegrun. There he finds the walled town of Kapul and the surrounding country under siege by roving packs of wolves.

Francois suspects a greater power is directing the attacks and seeks out Dreah-Gleig, the wizard who alone has the wickedness to devise such a scheme. As he struggles to free Kapul and Wuntegrun from the wolves and an invading force of Northmen, he learns that the Ballenrue raiders are also determined to take revenge on him.

The story reaches its height on a battlefield where wolves, Northmen and Ballenrue warriors fight together, and Francois comes face to face with Dreah-Gleig. There, their rival powers collide.