In a brutally hot desert land, war has been far from a tiny village hovering on the bare edge of survival. But when a ruler demands victory, every able-bodied adult must respond to the call to arms. The village will be left decimated before a single blow is struck. Somehow, a tattered group of those too old and too young to fight must become a new civilization. But old prejudices don't die easily, and everything changes when a group of enemy soldiers stumble past the magical barrier erected to protect the village and into its life.