Masika's quest to aid two minor gods of the Alir has landed her in the Undergates, someplace only the dead ever see, presenting a few logistical issues regarding her return. The politics of the dead have all three of them on the run, and while enemies are plentiful, allies are thin on the ground. Though not entirely absent. After all, a lot of people have died before now. Demons want to eat them, human souls want to use them, and then some of those human souls also want to eat them. But the greatest weapon Masika holds is the one thing in shortest supply in the Great Kingdoms of Hell, something that no one seems to expect, her own unrelenting sense of compassion. That and an eighteen-inch-tall demon named Forby who used to be a sword. And when your only tool is a blade ... Every problem looks like a neck. Though she had to die to do it, Masika successfully made it into the Undergates. Now all she has to do is find the soul of a dead runecrafter for an imp, convince a living king to send them home, and not die permanently in the process. Masika had no idea what she'd signed up for when she promised to get two tortured gods home.