Wounded heroes of a cataclysmic battle, Seregil and Alec have spent the past two years in self-imposed exile, far from their adopted homeland, Skala, and the bitter memories there. But as the war rages on, their time of peace is shattered by a desperate summons from Queen Idrilain, asking them to aid her daughter on a mission to Aur├лnen, the very land from which Seregil was exiled in his youth.
Here, in this fabled realm of magic and honor, he must at last confront the demons of his dark past, even as Alec discovers an unimagined heritage. And caught between SkalaтАЩs desperate need and the ancient intrigues of the Aur├лnfaie, they soon find themselves snared in a growing web of treachery and betrayal.
Lynn Flewelling grew up in Presque Isle, Maine. She earned a degree in English from the University of Maine then studied veterinary medicine at Oregon State University and classical Greek at Georgetown University. She teaches writing workshops and has been a guest instructor at the Stonecoast WritersтАЩ Conference, the World Science Fiction Convention, and the Maine WritersтАЩ and PublishersтАЩ Alliance. She lives in Bangor, Maine.
Raymond Todd is an actor and director in the theater as well as a poet and documentary filmmaker. He plays jazz trombone for the Leatherstocking quartet, an ensemble that gets its name from one of his favorite Blackstone narrations, The Deerslayer. Todd lives in New York.