Kyp awakes to a changed world. His Family is scattered: the flock decimated by plague, the Chooser dead - murdered by one of their own. Sick and alone, Kyp begins a journey. Humans have taken Kym - he doesn't know where, but he will keep searching because he made a promise. He will keep flying east because he feels he must. It isn't long before Kyp picks up a ragtag band of companions - plague survivors, outcasts, orphans - united by their desire to follow him, even into the human colonies, even into fire. But Kyp's is not the only group to form. A messianic opponent, risen from the dead, is gathering The Collection. And he is hell-bent on revenge.