It was Artemis goddess of the hunt and mistress of the wild who rescued the abandoned baby Atalanta sending a she-bear to nurse her and a band of hunters to raise her in safety. Now sixteen Atalanta famous archer and swiftest mortal alive has devoted her life to the goddess. When strangers appear in Atalanta's village one day they bring shattering news. The father who forsook her is a king. And he has summoned his daughter with a simple chilling command: marry and produce an heir. Fleet-footed Atalanta determined not to betray Artemis counters with a grim proposal. She will marry the first man to outrun her in a footrace and those she defeats must die. It is Atalanta's desperate hope that no man will be foolish enough to meet her challenge.
