How far can duty and anger drive a man?

One man the Turkowi fear above all others. Like the Blackbird of legend, he fights all the creatures of Selkow the Beautiful, braver than any unbeliever had right to be. "Shh, be quiet, or Matyasa will hear you," Turkowi mothers warn their children.

It was not always so. Once he was Matthew Malatesta, second son of a mercenary, younger brother of the heir to Marteen, grandson of Duke Edmund Ironhand of Sarmas. Matthew aspired to nothing beyond beating the Turkowi and buying a few books. Then the Oligarchs of Morloke drove him into exile.

Thus began the saga of Duke Matthew Charles Malatesta: the tale of the Blackbird.