Maggie Furey - Sword of Flames

In Nexis, Eliseth holds the land in an extended winter. Vannor, Parric, and their rebels hide in the sewers beneath Nexis. Miathan is sure that Aurian is alive and in the south. Elewin, the Academy’s chief steward, warns Parric, 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 soulmate, 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, 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 reaches 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 Aurian’s companions. Aurian’s loss brings home to Anvar how much he loves her. With Shia’s help he finds the portal and is reunited with Aurian. They emerge in the abandoned city of the Dragonfolk and discover Raven. Forral’s ghost leads Aurian to a temple, where she finds the last Dragon, freeing it from a spell. It tells her that she is the One for whom the Sword of Flame was forged, but first she must re-create the Staff of Earth. Having succeeded, Aurian 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…

Once across the desert, Aurian and her companions—Anvar, Shia, Eliizar, Nereni, Bohan, Yazour, and Raven—find sanctuary in the vast forest that lies beyond. They prepare for the arduous crossing of the mountains that lie to the north, but discover that Harihn and his company, who crossed the desert ahead of the companions, are also encamped within the woods. The Prince now regrets giving up his father’s throne. He has encountered the roving spirit of Miathan and made an unholy bargain, allowing the Archmage’s consciousness to occupy his body in times of need. Miathan also enlists the aid of Blacktalon, evil High Priest of the Winged Folk, who has poisoned Raven’s mother.

Harihn, under Miathan’s orders, 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 set up 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.

Parric and his friends reach the lands of the Xandim, a race of shape-shifters who can exist in human or equine form. They are captured and sentenced to death, for the Xandim permit no outlanders in their territory. Chiamh discovers that the strangers are connected with his newfound Bright Powers and goes to rescue them with the help of Basileus, a Moldan—an Earth-Elemental who is the living mind and soul of the Wyndveil mountain.

Vannor, now settled with his rebels in the valley, under the unseen guardianship of D’arvan, discovers that his daughter Zanna has run away from the Nightrunner hideout and returned to Nexis. He sets off to search for her with the veteran warrior Hargorn.

Aurian and her band reach the Tower of Incondor and are attacked by Blacktalon’s Skyfolk and the soldiers of Harihn, who is controlled by Miathan. Shia, at the Mage’s urging, flees with the Staff of Earth. Yazour, though wounded, escapes. Aurian and the others are captured. 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 to ensure the Mage’s cooperation. Yazour is found by Schiannath, a Xandim outlaw exiled from his homeland along with his sister Iscalda, who has been condemned by the Herdlord Phalihas to exist permanently in her equine shape of a white mare. Using the Staff to communicate, Shia convinces Schiannath to help the Khazalim warrior.

Raven, stunned by Harihn’s treachery and her mother’s death, is taken back to Aerillia. Blacktalon plans to wed her, to consolidate his power, but first he destroys her wings. Raven 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 and Vannor have become separated. Hargorn is wounded by the soldiers of Pendral, a cruel and corrupt merchant, and is rescued by Jarvas, who runs a refuge for homeless and destitute Nexians. Hargorn’s wounds are treated by the drunken physician Benziorn and his assistant Emmie. In the squalid alleys near the docks, Emmie befriends two strays—a starving white dog and a young boy, Grince. She takes the boy back to Jarvas’s refuge, along with the dog and her litter of puppies.

To reach Aerillia, Shia must pass through the territory of her own people. The First Female, Gristheena, believing Shia has come to reclaim the leadership, challenges her to combat. Helped by the old cat Hreeza and the young male Khanu, Shia escapes and wins her way safely through. Despite the danger, the two cats insist on accompanying 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 upriver by night, only to find that Miathan has rebuilt the old walls that enclose the city. Making their way into Nexis through the sewers, they emerge to find Jarvas’s refuge under attack by Pendrall’s soldiers. Remana helps many homeless folk to 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 with 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. Still putting her faith in Shia, 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, with the exception of Meiriel, now dangerously insane, who has vanished into the mountains. To gain the help of the Xandim, the cavalrymaster must challenge the Herdlord for leadership of the tribe. Phalihas fights in his horse-form, but Parric prevails and becomes Herdlord for a month—until he can be challenged again. 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 restore the Staff to him, and he uses it to pass through the mountain to the city on Aerillia Peak. He pursues Blacktalon to a high tower and slays him, but the Moldan of Aerillia causes an earthquake and the tower falls. Anvar survives but is trapped underground. Unable to attack him in her earthly form, the Moldan transports him into another dimension—the Elsewhere of such Elemental beings as the Moldan and the Phaerie. Here she takes the form of a monster and attacks—for she wants the Staff of Earth.