The Thunder of Hoofs — K.S. Nikakis

The Thunder of Hoofs is the fourth book in the critically acclaimed The Kira Chronicles series, a high fantasy, richly imagined tale, set in a beautifully crafted world of deep emerald forests and vast sweeping plains. Who is friend and who is enemy? Kira is a prisoner again but in a cruel twist of fate, the leader of her captors embodies everything Kira most loved in the world and everything Kasheron most despised. Fearing their intentions, Kira hides her identity but her subterfuge is discovered and the danger deepens. She reaches the North but her quest to aid the Tremen seems doomed. The forests that hid her people from enemies also hid them from friends and there is no help for a people without alliance or treaty. Kira must turn south again, to where Caledon will bring the Tremen fighters, but the Northern Leader is determined to keep her in the North, far from the Shargh. Desperate to learn of Kira's fate, Caledon journeys north too but his arrival generates antagonisms that threaten alliances and treaties alike. The bloodshed spreads as he struggles to decipher the stars' intent and he fears that following his heart will cause the deaths of countless others. Kira is no slave to the stars and, driven by her duties as leader, sets out for the south. Besieged by squalling winds and icy storms, her escort comes under Shargh attack and she finds herself in in a desperate attempt to outrun them. And then, battered by a deadly rain of spears, her mare goes down.