In a wood at the edge of the world, Aspin of Asperine frees a god from an imprisonment that was to have lasted ten thousand years. In return for his freedom, the god gifts this poor mercenary's son the secret of the Word of the Dead. But for Aspin and the world he lives in, this one Word will tear open long forgotten wounds. For the necromancers of old were hunted down and destroyed by the Seers, and the Conclave has not forgotten their great crusade...