Ill-Made Mute: Part 1 of The Bitterbynde Trilogy

The Stormriders land their splendid winged stallions on the airy battlements of Isse Tower. Far below, the superstitious servants who dwell in the fortress's depths tell ghastly tales of evil creatures inhabiting the world outside, a world they have only glimpsed.

Yet it is the least of the lowly - a mute, scarred, and utterly despised foundling - who dares to scale the Tower, seek aboard a Windship, and then dive from the sky. The fugitive is rescued by a kindhearted adventurer who gives it a name, the gift of communicating by handspeak, and an amazing truth it had never guessed.

Now Imrhien begins a journey to distant Caermelor, to seek a wise woman whose skills may change the foundling's life. Along the way, Imrhien must survive a wilderness of endless danger.

And as the challenge grow more deadly, Imrhien discovers something more terrifying than all the evil eldritch wights the shunned outsider with an angel's soul and a gargoyle's face is falling in love...