When young Gaelle defies Imperial Law by refusing to kill the horse that threw her father to his death, as well as the Law that decrees the horse's owner, Wilm, be beaten senseless, she and her aunt Jillian are destined to pay a heavy toll for Gaelle's disobedience. But in this medieval fantasy-the first in The Reaching Man Series-Gaelle ignites a rebellion of heretics who rise against the dark, militarized church after their discovery of a religion based in light.