Still driven by his search for Man's fabled birthplace, Earl Dumrest accepts a commission to guard the Lady Derai, heiress to the proud House of Caldor, on the feudal world of Hive. On Derai's home planet, Dumarest had hoped to meet a living witness to Earth. But instead he finds himself in the lists of the deadly Contest on Folgone - with the Lady of Caldor as prize. And on Folgone, for the first time,…