The wanderer

Gael Maddoc, the child of struggling peasants, leaps at the chance when she is offered training as a kedran, a mounted soldier. She wins glory bringing her charges home safe across a huge desert, seeking aid from the Shee. But the Shee—the dwindling Fair Folk—then recruit her for their own purposes. Her nascent magical talents and her resourcefulness show her to be the Wanderer, a legendary figure for whom they've been waiting.