Dhiammara

The story so far...

Long ago, four magical weapons had been fashioned by Mages whose history was lost, together with the Artifacts themselves, in the Cataclysm—horrific wars of magic which wrought changes on land and water. Lost also was the history of the non-human Mages: the Winged Ones, the Dragonfolk, and the great Leviathan—or so said ancient legends.

Aurian, growing up in her mother’s lonely Valley, knows nothing of these tales. Yet when she meets Forral, a wandering swordsman, the encounter changes not only their lives, but the future course of history.

Aurian’s father, Geraint, perished through misuse of his Fire-magic, and her grieving mother, the Earth-Mage Eilin, is obsessed with restoring the Valley—the barren crater left by the explosion. Forral stays to care for the neglected child and teaches her swordplay. A close bond develops between them until Aurian is sent to the city of Nexis and the Academy, home of the few remaining Magefolk, where she can be fully trained as a Mage.

Homesick and missing Forral, Aurian turns to the Arch-mage Miathan, unaware of his sinister plans for her. She incurs the enmity of the Weather-Mage Eliseth and her cohorts Bragar and Davorshan, and is befriended by Finbarr the Archivist and D’arvan, Davorshan’s twin, who is unable to access his powers.—As she grows to adulthood, her studies are diverted by the return of Forral as Commander of the Nexis Garrison. Aurian resumes sword training and makes new friends at the Garrison—Lieutenant Maya and Parric, the Cavalrymaster. The bond between Forral and Aurian ripens into mature love, but matings between Mortals and Magefolk are forbidden. In the meantime, Miathan begins to force his attentions on her.

Elsewhere in Nexis, Anvar, son of a baker, is sold as a bondservant to the Archmage. He is truly Miathan’s son—a half-breed Mage whose mother has kept his identity secret. Miathan steals his powers, binding him with a spell of silence. After months of toil and brutality, he escapes, seeking his lover Sara, who was pregnant when they parted. But she has lost the child and married Vannor, Head of the Merchants’ Guild. When Anvar is recaptured, Aurian defies the Arch-mage to claim him as her servant.

In the catacombs beneath the Academy, Miathan discovers a grail fashioned from the Caldron of Rebirth, one of the lost Artifacts of Power. When Aurian and Forral become lovers, the jealous Archmage turns the grail to evil, cursing any child that may come of their union to take the form of the first beast Aurian sees after its birth.

Eliseth persuades Meiriel to negate Aurian’s spells against pregnancy, knowing that Miathan will never countenance Forral’s half-breed child. Davorshan tries to murder his brother, and D’arvan flees to Aurian’s mother, who can help him find his powers. Maya goes with him to the Valley. Miathan discovers that Aurian is pregnant and tries to destroy the child, but Anvar warns Ferral and Vannor. When Forral attacks, Miathan unleashes Death-Wraiths—spirits who feed on life force—from the grail, and Forral is slain.

Aurian and Anvar escape Nexis by ship, taking Sara with them at Vannor’s request. Aurian’s one hope of defeating Miathan is to find the three lost Artifacts—but time is limited, for as her pregnancy progresses, she will lose her powers until the child is born. Then to her horror, she feels Miathan’s mind, searching the seas for her with magic.

When Maya and D’arvan reach the Valley, Eilin tells D’arvan that his true father is Hellorin, Lord of the Phaerie—a powerful race of Elemental beings exiled from the world by ancient Magefolk. Maya and D’arvan become lovers and stay in the Vale.

At sea, Aurian discovers the wise and powerful whales—the ancient Mage race of Leviathan. When she uses her powers to help them, the Archmage finds her and Eliseth conjures a storm to sink the ship. In the ensuing battle with Miathan, Aurian blinds him.

Aurian, Anvar, and Sara are rescued by the Leviathan, but the storm has blown them to the unknown Southern Kingdoms. Sara seduces Anvar, and Aurian leaves with the Leviathan Ithalasa, who reveals the lost history of the Magefolk.—Aurian learns of the missing Artifacts: the Staff of Earth, the Harp of Winds, and the Sword of Flame, created by the Dragon-folk for one hand alone to wield. Ithalasa does not know where they can be found.

Anvar and Sara are captured by the Khazalim, a fierce desert race, and taken to the city of Taibeth, where Anvar is sold as a slave and Sara goes to the harem of Xiang, the ruler. Given the chance to become queen, she callously consigns Anvar to his fate. Aurian reaches Taibeth and is sentenced to fight in the Arena. Here she befriends Eliizar, disillusioned Swordmaster, and his wife Nereni. She hopes to find Anvar, but first she must fight the fearsome Black Demon, against whom no one has survived.

Miathan sends Davorshan to kill Aurian’s mother. D’arvan slays him, but not before Eilin is mortally wounded. To save her, D’arvan and Maya, along with Eilin, pass into the realm of the Forest Lord, where Eilin must remain in order to survive. Hellorin explains that the Dragons gave the Sword of Flame into the care of the Phaerie, who must now return it to the world. Once the Artifact is claimed, the Phaerie will be freed. Hellorin conceals the Sword in the Valley, and Maya is transformed into a Guardian—an invisible unicorn.—D’arvan brings the Wildwood to the Valley, making it a haven for Miathan’s foes.

Aurian fights in the Arena before Xiang, his son, and his new queen, Sara. She survives the first bouts but is wounded, and now must face the Demon: Shia, a fierce great cat from an intelligent race. When the Mage communicates mentally with her, Shia claims her as a friend. Harihn, Xiang’s son, takes Aurian and Shia under his protection. While her wounds heal, she is cared for by a eunuch, Bohan, and wins his heart with her kindness. Anvar is found dying in the Khisu’s slave pens. Aurian battles Death for his spirit and prevails.—Before Anvar can be warned of Sara’s treachery, Xiang’s soldiers attack. Anvar and Harihn are sentenced to death. Aurian escapes from the dungeons, freeing Shia and Harihn’s men. With Yazour, their captain, she storms the throne room, taking Xiang prisoner. Harihn will not accept the throne from a Mage and a woman. He frees Xiang on condition that he and his people may leave the kingdom and cross the desert. Anvar begs Sara to join him, but she repudiates him cruelly. Eliizar and Nereni join the fugitives.

In Nexis, Eliseth holds the land in an extended winter. Vannor, Parric, and their rebels, hide in the sewers beneath Nexis. Miathan believes that Aurian is alive and in the South. Elewin, the Academy’s Chief Steward, warns Panic, who decides to go in search of her. The rebels escape the city with Meiriel, who has been driven mad by the loss of her soul-mate, Finbarr. They find sanctuary with Vannor’s friends the Nightrunners, an elusive smuggling community who are already sheltering the merchant’s daughter Zanna. Vannor’s rebels head for the Valley, seeking Aurian’s mother, while Parric, with Meiriel, Elewin, and the warrior Sangra, journey to the Southern Lands in search of Aurian herself.

In the desert, Anvar quarrels with Harihn. His rage is strong enough to break Miathan’s spell, and his powers draw his spirit back to Nexis, where he snatches back his magic from the Archmage. Aurian offers to teach him to use his powers, and his training begins.

Meanwhile, across the desert in the mountain city of Aerillia, the Winged Folk are dying in Eliseth’s unnatural winter, which is spreading across the world.—Blacktalon, the corrupt High Priest, claims he can turn aside the deadly cold and demands to be wedded to the Princess Raven, heir to the throne. Raven flees, heading south across the desert.

Harihn’s band reach Dhiammara—a solitary mountain in the desert where a mysterious portal opens in the rock, snatching Aurian away. When she cannot be found, Harihn abandons her companions. Aurian’s loss brings home to Anvar how much he loves her. With Shia’s help he finds the portal, and he is reunited with Aurian. They emerge in the abandoned city of the Dragonfolk, and discover Raven. Forral’s ghost leads Aurian to the last Dragon, who tells her that she is the One for whom the Sword of Flame was forged, but first she must win the Staff of Earth. Aurian succeeds and now holds one of the Artifacts.—The Mage is reunited with her comrades and Yazour, who has left the Prince and returned with horses. Eliseth creates a lethal sandstorm to slay them.—Aurian’s powers have vanished due to her pregnancy, but with the help of the Staff, she and Anvar defeat Eliseth and cross the desert safely. But Miathan is not done with them, for he has learned to free his spirit from the fetters of his body and send it abroad to work mischief....

Aurian and her companions find sanctuary in the forest beyond the desert, where Harihn and his troops are also encamped. The Prince has met with the roving spirit of Miathan and made an unholy bargain, allowing the Archmage to occupy his body at need. Miathan also enlists the aid of Black-talon, who has poisoned Raven’s mother. Harihn seduces Raven, persuading her to betray the Mages. She offers to guide them across the mountains to the Tower of Incondor, where the Archmage and Blacktalon have laid an ambush.

Across the mountains, in the lands of the Xandim Horse-folk, a Seer receives a vision on the winds. Chiamh, the despised, reclusive Windeye of the Xandim, discovers powers of evil reaching out from the north toward two Bright Ones beyond the mountains. At the risk of destroying his tribe, he knows he must aid them in their fight against darkness.

The Xandim are shape-shifters, existing in either human or equine form. They capture Parric and his companions and sentence them to death. Chiamh rescues them with the help of Basileus, a Moldan—the living mind and soul of the Wynd-veil mountain.

Vannor, now settled with his rebels in the Vale, under D’arvan’s unseen guidance, hears that his daughter Zanna has left the Nightrunner hideout and returned to Nexis. He sets off to search for her with the veteran warrior Hargorn, but is captured by Miathan.

Aurian’s band reach the Tower of Incondor and are attacked by Blacktalon’s Skyfolk and Harihn’s troops. Shia, at the Mage’s urging, flees with the Staff of Earth. Yazour, though wounded, escapes. Aurian is imprisoned in the tower to await the birth of her son, whom Miathan plans to kill. Anvar is taken to the Skyfolk city of Aerillia as a hostage. Yazour is found by Schiannath, a Xandim outlaw exiled from his homeland with his sister Iscalda, condemned by the Herdlord Phalihas to exist solely in her equine shape: a white mare. Using the Staff to communicate, Shia convinces Schiannath to help the wounded warrior.

Raven is taken back to Aerillia. Blacktalon plans to wed her to consolidate his power, but first he destroys her wings. She attempts to kill herself, but her life is saved by the physician Elster and her apprentice Cygnus, formerly a secret supporter of the High Priest.

In Nexis, Hargorn is wounded by the troops of Pendral, a cruel, corrupt merchant, and is rescued by Jarvas, who runs a refuge for destitute Nexians.—Hargorn is cared for by the physician Benziorn and his assistant Emmie, who finds two strays—a starving white dog and a boy, Grince. She takes them back to the refuge, along with the dog’s litter of puppies.

To reach Aerillia, Shia must cross the lands of her own people. Helped by the old cat Hreeza and the young male Khanu, she wins her way through. The two others join her.

Remana, mother of Yanis, the Nightrunner leader, goes with her son and Zanna’s friend Tarnal to Nexis, to find Vannor and his daughter. Seeking the help of Jarvas, they row up-river by night and make their way into Nexis via the sewers, emerging to find Jarvas’s refuge under attack by Pendral’s soldiers.—Remana helps the refugees escape through the sewers, taking them back to the smuggler hideout at Wyvernesse, but Grince is left behind. Benziorn remains to search for him, while Yanis and Tarnal stay in Nexis to find Zanna.—Vannor is captured by Miathan and imprisoned within the Mages’ Tower. He discovers that Zanna is already there, in the guise of Eliseth’s maid.—At the request of the wounded Yazour, Schiannath climbs the Tower of Incondor and finds Aurian. She refuses to be rescued while Anvar is a hostage, but agrees to signal the Xandim for his assistance when her child is born.—Chiamh has rescued Parric and his companions, but Meiriel, now dangerously insane, has vanished into the mountains. To gain the help of the Xandim, Parric challenges Phalihas for leadership or the tribe and becomes Herdlord.—The Windeye traps Phalihas in his equine form, and acting on Chiamh’s Vision, Parric takes a troop of warriors to Aurian’s rescue.

Anvar has been imprisoned by the Skyfolk in a cave high on a cliff. Shia makes a near-impossible climb to bring him the Staff, and he uses it to pass through the mountain to the city of Aerillia. The Mage slays Blacktalon, but the Moldan of Aerillia, who wants the Staff, causes an earthquake and traps him underground. Unable to attack in her earthly form, the Moldan transports Anvar to another dimension—the Elsewhere of such elemental beings as the Moldan and the Phaerie. Here she takes the form of a monster, and attacks.—Miathan, in Harihn’s body, attacks Aurian, who goes into labor. Wolves come to her rescue and Harihn is slain by the pack leader—and as Miathan’s curse takes effect, Aurian’s child assumes the shape of a wolf cub. When Parric and Chiamh reach the tower, the Windeye frees Iscalda from her equine shape, and Parric, as Herdlord, pardons Schiannath the outlaw. Aurian journeys with Chiamh to Aerillia, in search of Anvar.

Hellorin, Lord of the Phaerie, discovers the presence of the Staff of Earth in his realm, and with Aurian’s mother goes to Anvar’s rescue. The Moldan is destroyed, and Hellorin sends Anvar Between the Worlds to the Timeless Lake, to seek the Harp of Winds. Anvar evades the traps set by the Cailleach, guardian of the Harp, and claims the Artifact for his own. He returns to Aerillia and finds Aurian, and at last they affirm their love. Using the Artifacts to break the deadly power of Eliseth’s winter, they bring spring back to the world.

Aurian’s companions journey to Aerillia, where Raven is crowned Queen. The Mages rejoice in their new love and the claiming of another Artifact, unaware that jealous eyes watch them. Cygnus is convinced that the Harp should be returned to the Skyfolk.

To Nereni’s dismay, Eliizar’s fear of magic convinces him to return south with some of the Winged Folk and the remainder of Harihn’s soldiers and servants, to set up an independent colony in the forest close to the desert.

Reluctantly, they say farewell to the Mages.

In the North, the Nexian refugees shelter with the Night-runners. Back in Nexis, young Grince and the surviving pup from the white dog’s litter are hiding in the deserted Grand Arcade. For the sake of his beloved dog, he embarks on a life of thievery.

In Aerillia, Raven is facing difficulties in her new role of Queen. Her only allies are Elster and Aguila, Captain of the Guard. Skua, the new High Priest, is plotting against her, together with Sunfeather, one of Aerillia’s warrior elite—and Cygnus, who still wants the Harp of Winds for himself and plots to prevent the Skyfolk from assisting Aurian in her quest.

Elster advises Raven to marry Aguila, for she needs his strength and support.—Aurian and her companions travel to the Xandim Fastness, aided by winged couriers sent by Raven, On arrival, they are ambushed by the mad Healer-Mage Meiriel, aided by Gristheena, the brutal leader of the great cats. Meiriel kidnaps Wolf, but the Mages and Chiamh track her down and Aurian slays her.—Shia defeats Gristheena, but leaves Hreeza to rule the cats so that she herself can remain with Aurian.

Parric’s term as Herdlord is coming to an end. The Xandim revolt against him, and while the companions are escaping their attackers, Bohan falls from the cliffs behind the Fastness and dies. Backed by Chiamh, Parric nominates Schiannath to Challenge in his place. The former outlaw battles Phalihas and, on killing him, becomes Herdlord.

In Nexis, Vannor is still the captive of the Magefolk. Though Miathan will not permit her to kill him, Eliseth has discovered that she can use Mortal pain to increase her powers, and mangles Vannor’s hand. Zanna has manipulated herself into the role of Eliseth’s maid, hoping to spy on the Mages. When she discovers her father, she rescues him and they escape via the archives and the sewers. They find sanctuary with Hebba, Vannor’s cook, who is also sheltering Tarnal, Yanis, and the physician Benziorn, who is forced to amputate Vannor’s injured hand. They all escape from Nexis and flee back to the Nightrunners.—In a vision, Chiamh discovers that the Sword of Flame is hidden in the Lady Eilin’s Valley. The Mages and their companions make plans to return to the North, unaware of the fact that Eliseth has sent Bern to infiltrate the rebel camp in the Vale.

In the city of Taibeth, Sara is alone, for Xiang has headed north across the desert in search of his son Harihn, unaware that the Prince is already dead.—Sara has evolved a plan to dupe Xiang with a feigned pregnancy during his absence. On reaching the far side of the desert, Xiang finds the forest occupied by Eliizar and his folk—who are ready for invaders. Xiang’s forces are vanquished and he is slain by Eliizar himself. As long as Sara can carry out her deception to its conclusion and produce a child from somewhere at the proper time, she will be in an unassailable position of power as the mother of Xiang’s successor.

On reaching the coast of the Southern Lands, Aurian summons the Leviathan Ithalasa. Risking the disapproval of his people, he agrees to take Chiamh, Parric, and Sangra on his back so that they can contact Yanis and arrange for Night-runner ships to take the Mages and the Xandim forces provided by Schiannath back to the North. Before they can board the ships, Cygnus joins them. Though he has deceived Raven into sending him to assist the Mages, he has truly come to steal the Harp by any possible means.

In Nexis, Eliseth sees in her scrying crystal that Aurian has returned. She makes a treacherous attack on Miathan, takes him out of time and steals the Grail of Rebirth. With a force of mercenaries, she advances on the Valley to battle the Mages and their allies on the outskirts. D’arvan, the Wildwood’s guardian, lets Aurian’s folk pass within. When Eliseth finds herself barred from entering, she calls down lightning to set the woods ablaze.

When Aurian reaches the lake, she is attacked by Maya, but breaks the spell and returns her old friend to her human form. When the Mage tries to claim the Sword, it demands a sacrifice—the blood of a loved one. Rather than make such a bargain, Aurian forfeits the Artifact. The Phaerie, freed by the Sword but unable to swear allegiance to its wielder, are loosed upon the world and turn the Xandim back to their equine form. Cygnus, seeing his chance, attacks Anvar, and as Aurian rushes to his aid, Eliseth steals the Sword. When she tries to wield it together with the Grail, however, she rends open the fabric of time, vanishing with Anvar through the gap. Aurian follows, along with D’arvan, Maya, Chiamh, Schiannath, and the great cats Shia and Khanu. All of them are lost in time and hurtling toward an unknown fate.