While Löhi, the Witch of the North, lays waste to the Far Northern Land town-by-town, Ulla's power continues to grow. Strong, pitiless, and relentless, Ulla measures all others against her utter devotion to their seemingly doomed cause. Accompanied by Kaukomieli, the young wizard whose love for her conflicts with his sense of duty, she prowls the Marches ambushing Löhi's servants and giving no quarter. Feared by all as much as she is loved, Ulla is now her people's final hope. In desperation, Ulla and Väinämöinen journey in spirit-form to hell to bargain with its lord for a weapon with which to slay the Witch. The quest takes them at last to Pohjola itself and a final confrontation with Löhi that powerfully evokes the Finnish heroic spirit and leads to a shocking, unexpected denouement. , Book III of the , goes where no epic fantasy has gone before-Finnish mythology and the world of the Kalevala, where legendary heroes like the wizard Väinämöinen mix with original characters like Ulla to create a unique mosaic wholly new to fantasy literature.