Black Amazon of Mars

A dying thief's last wish puts a stolen talisman in Eric John Stark's hands, and every clan in the Martian Norlands wants it. Camar took the crystal lens from Kushat, the city that guards the pass called the Gates of Death, and he dies in the snow before he can bring it home. Stark promises to finish the journey.

The riders of Mekh find him first. Their leader, the Lord Ciaran, hides behind an ancient black war-mask and carries an axe made for shearing skulls, and the clans mean to take Kushat before the thaw. Stark reaches the city with fresh scars and a warning nobody wants to hear. Worse, the talisman shows him a war fought a million years ago, and hints at what still waits beyond the Gates.