"Official timeline for the Heralds of Valdemar series" in front of book.

"Darian has been living in the temporary encampment of the Tayledras "Hawkpeople" for nearly four years, working as liaison between them and the survivors of his own ravaged village. But as he is about to return with the Tayledras back to their home Vale to continue his magician's apprenticeship, Darian suddenly learns that his parents, missing for five years, are alive -- trapped inside the borders of the treacherous Eastern Empire"