In a portent of strife to come, late winter weather lashes the southwest of Ireland. Rannal's sister, Gudrun, arrives on a lonely island in the Sionainne Estuary among a Viking invasion fleet commanded by the former King of the Foreigners in Munster. Ivar intends to reclaim his dominion, but his plan will trigger the rise in opposition of Ireland's first national hero, Brian Boru. The turbulent struggle between these two rivals will frame decades of subsequent history as the Imperator Scottorum rises to power. In Part 2 of the Four Masters Trilogy, the action moves from Connacht to deep in Leath Moga where Gudrun searches for the truth behind her husband's disappearance. Rannal's family must protect the growing settlement in Clonmacnoise as regal ambition sweeps men and women into conflict in an elaborate conspiracy under the raven banner. Silver and gold has been promised to Ivar's mercinary army, but blood and death are never far from where stolen wealth lies.