The Mendicant

The war is over, and the bad guys won.  In a defeated land, ruled by zealots, many choose submission.  But one man keeps the faith.  The mendicant roams the high plains, bringing hope to the hopeless and help to the helpless.  His only weapons: his father's sword, a lute, and a bad-tempered camel.  Back in the city, his estranged sister and her husband believe in the new order.  But when the government needs help finding a legendary weapon of dreadful power, a sudden knock comes at their door.  Will their years of collaboration keep them safe from a terrifying new threat?  None of them can foresee the avalanche that's about to start, far to the south, in a dried-up little town, when the mendicant meets a servant girl who has cowered all her life, and he inspires her to finally stand up and say, "no."