Bantam, New York, 1995, 1^st pr.  ISBN 0-553-56772-1.  MMPB, 360 pages.  Unread copy with a touch of edge and cover wear; interior pages lightly tanning.  ‘The Zhirrzh have won a temporary respite in their war with the barbarians.  But the Human captive Pheylan Cavanagh has escaped, and for that Thrr-gilag, the young Searcher, finds himself disgraced, his bond-engagement to a female of a rival clan imperiled.  Soon he becomes a target of hidden and powerful forces seeking to remake Zhirrzh society in their own merciless image.  His only hope is to prove that the Overclan authorities are wrong:  that it was not the Humans who started the war.’ (from rear wrap)