The saga of the Choosers of the Slain continues. Odin the One-Eyed Wanderer has dismissed Brynhild from the sisterhood of the Valkyries for disobedience. Stabbing her with the sleep-thorn, he condemns her to sleep until "sons are sires" and a man comes who will be her equal. But if she loses her maidenhood, she will lose both her magical youth and her strength. Brynhild opens her eyes in a strange, icy land to see Siegfried, a man who seems half-God himself. If he is a sending of Odin, does Siegfried's outstretched hand mean a hopeful future? Or divine revenge?