Meet Timothy Hunter, teenage mage, lost soul, and leader of the Wild Hunt! Lost between the Realms, Tim learns the true story of the Hunters' past and purpose. But when a mysterious comrade shows him the chaos that the Realms have become, he must make a grim decision about his life.
Alpanu Lasas teaches Tim to hunt, starting with a deer, but he can't bring himself to shoot it. He and the others discuss what it means to be in the Hunt, which they all joined under the Challenge--beat a member and join the Hunt, or die. He recognizes Cupid, whom he had met long before.
The others explain why they are still in the Hunt--the Hunt's job is to weed out the gods who have not been able to adapt to the times, whose identity no longer fits reality. Those in the Pack who are beaten by a challenger becomes gods again, with a new role fit for the times.
The Master of the Hunt, who was defeated by Tim, walks until he finds the group of faeries that Tim left at Mam Day's house. Julie the Dancing Bear confronts him, saying that she has outlived her use, and that she should have hunted her. However, he says that he couldn't, because she was his god--he is her last worshiper. Now she will hunt him.
Lasas gives Tim the Lord of the Hunt's helmet, and it gives him super-heightened awareness. He exults in his oneness with nature. It eventually ends, and she tells him it will only work again once he successfully hunts and kills someone.
They take a ride as a group, and see various peoples who are intermixed due to the storm that broke down all the boundaries between dimensional realms. Now many humans and faeries are defenseless against demons and other creatures. Lasas tells Tim that the Other was the cause of the storm, which Tim did not know. Lasas pushes Tim to consider hunting his Other, but he refuses--at first.
Tim goes off on his own and kills a deer to reinstate the power to his helmet. Lasas watches--then we see Lasas turn into Auberon.
Tim returns to the Hunt, and, accepting his role as Lord, tells them that they are going to hunt his Other.
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