In the days of the Purge the tides of death swallowed all that was holy, but now Velspar is on the verge of revival.

Sybilla Ladain survived her judgement and is now caught between her duty as Skalen and her growing entanglement with the rebels she once considered her enemies. Voirrey takes Sybilla to a little village in the mountains where they plan to start a religious community based on the old rites. In Avishae, Intercessor Maeryn is working with the Elshenders to do the same.

But with the rise of the Guard and its factions, traditional seats of power cease to hold their value. The revival depends upon the will of the Skalens but without the Guard at their side, no Skalen is safe.

"Black Stream's feverish prose will transport you to a realm of psychic synesthesia that is at once fantastical but also a mirror of our own world: full of dark secrets and emotional phenomena. [Balstrup's] characters are deeply developed, her world so tangible you can taste the sacrificial blood, and her narrative set on an arc of spiritually epic proportions. This is fantasy of transcendental scope and exquisite execution." -Joseph Sale, author of The Book of Thrice Dead and Virtue's End