Faced with the prospect of an unhappy life in the Kingdom, fourteen-year-old Birle accompanies a young runaway nobleman on a journey south and falls into slavery in the citadel of a cruel prince. Thrilling high adventure and heart-stopping romance combine in the second book in the Tales of the Kingdom series from Newbery Medalist Cynthia Voigt, set two generations after The Tale of Gwyn. Birle has agreed to be wed to the huntsman Muir as an escape from the drudgery of life at her father's inn--but the moment she looks into the bellflower-blue eyes of the man she comes upon stealing one of her father's boats, Birle knows she cannot marry Muir. Even after she discovers the mysterious stranger is Orien, a lord, and as unreachable to an innkeeper's daughter as a star, Birle is determined to travel with him as far as he will allow. Their journey takes Birle to a world far from home, a world where lords may become slaves, where princes rule by fear, and where fortune's wheel turns more swiftly and dangerously than Birle could have ever imagined. Previously published as On Fortune's Wheel, this classic tale features a new look and a new title.