The divided

Sekmé is a rarity—a female Maurheti soldier risen to the rank of Commander at the tender age of twenty-four. Daughter of a pilot killed in a gel-bombing raid on godless Tel-mari civilians, Sekmé is determined to crush resistance once and for all. But the merciless efficiency that has made her a hero to her soldiers and a demon to the enemy has also earned Sekmé the enmity of dangerous men closer to home. Men with interests other than victory. Merkus is a freedom fighter leading the resistance against the despoilers of Tel-mari wealth and honor. Sickened by the endless slaughter, he longs for a peace he has never known—a peace he has only read about in an ancient poem that sings of a mythical place called Sa'har. But to the Maurheti, Markus is a hated terrorist to be hunted down. Wepanu has spent his life wandering the inhospitable deserts of Maurhet, his only companions the mysterious entities known as jo. Visible to a chosen few, the jo remember what humans have forgotten—a prophecy passed on to Wepanu that will bring Sekmé and Merkus into a violent collision fated to shake the beliefs of Maurheti and Tel-mari to the core. A prophecy that will point the way to the peace of Sa'har—or ignite an all-consuming holocaust...