Step back into the year A.D. 1263...and the secret lair of a killer. He walks the ruins of a dying civilization, stalking the weak in a reign of terror.

When War Chief Browser stumbles into a subterranean ceremonial chamber filled with headless bodies, he knows it is just the beginning. The darkness that has haunted him for most of his life has returned. A murderer lurks in the shadows around Browser's village, taking people one at a time. Browser turns for help to a crazy tribal elder who has solved many crimes before. He is certain old Stone Ghost knows the killer, but the elder is telling no one. As Browser frantically works to find the fiend, the murderer watches from closer than he would ever dream...

Only a few heartbeats ahead in geological time, archaeologist, William "Dusty" Stewart, finds himself excavating a mass grave in New Mexico filled with the burned bodies of children. As the number of bodies begins to mount, he is forced to call upon the skills of his arch-nemesis: world-renowned Canadian physical anthropologist, Dr. Maureen Cole. What Dusty and Maureen discover about the killer's methods is almost too horrible to believe.

From the national award-winning archaeologist and international bestselling authors of The Visitant comes a novel of unforgettable terror about mass murder in America eight hundred years ago...

Kathleen O'Neal Gear is a former state historian and archaeologist for Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska for the U.S. Department of the Interior. She has twice received the federal government's Special Achievement Award for "outstanding management" of our nation's cultural heritage.

W. Michael Gear, who holds a master's degree in archaeology, has worked as a professional archaeologist since 1978. He is currently principal investigator for Wind River Archaeological Consultants.

The Gears, whose First North American Series hit the international and USA Today bestseller lists, live in Thermopolis, Wyoming.