Richard Tuttle - Elvangar

Our story so far…

Young Lord of Khadora is the story of a young soldier who is unhappy with the culture of his country. His superb military skills, and the loyalty of his troops, enable Marak to take the reins of a minor Situ estate when the opportunity arises. When the neighboring lords conspire against Lord Marak, he uses cunning, courage, and unconventional warfare to subdue them. When his own protector, Lord Ridak of the Situ Clan, turns against Lord Marak, the young lord strikes a blow for a new culture. He creates his own clan, the Torak clan, and defies the norms by freeing his slaves. At the end of volume one, Lord Marak secretly controls five small clans on the frontier of Khadora.

Star of Sakova introduces Lyra, a young mage student who is thrust into an unfamiliar world by an attack on her father’s magic academy. Running for her life, Lyra enters the dreaded Sakova, expecting death at every turn. Instead, she finds that the god Kaltara has chosen her to lead the Sakovan people. Young Lyra unravels the mystery of the attack on the magic academy and the kidnapping of her father, Master Malafar. During the struggle to save the Sakovan people from ruin, Lord Marak visits and discovers long lost ties between the Sakovans and the people of his Chula father. By the end of volume two of the Forgotten Legacy, Lyra displays magic talents that only Kaltara could have given her. She faces off against the false Katana Alazar and defeats him in a public display that eliminates the threat of war.

Web of Deceit features a young villager from a remote area of Fakara. The story opens with the destruction of Rejji’s village and a chance meeting with Mistake, a young elf-like woman. Rejji and Mistake are captured by slavers and sold to a Khadoran estate where they befriend a young Fakaran with the rare ability to speak with animals. Lord Marak frees the trio from slavery as he seeks to learn more about the strange country of Fakara. When the trio returns to Fakara, they become embroiled in a power struggle between the Jiadin tribe and the rest of the tribesmen, known as the Free Tribes. On a trip to the Sage of the Mountain, Rejji discovers that he is the long-awaited Astor of prophecy. He finds a painting in the ancient lost city of Angragar that depicts Lord Marak, Lyra, and himself. By the end of volume three, Rejji succeeds in uniting the Free Tribes under his banner and defeating the Jiadin. He immediately makes plans to rebuild his native country.

Aakuta: the Dark Mage introduces a new, mysterious figure. A powerful, dark mage suddenly appears in a country devoid of male mages. The mage appears to have no allegiances in the growing struggle between Lord Marak and the forces of evil, but he has the habit of always showing up when conflict erupts. Meanwhile, Lord Marak tries to rouse Khadora into stopping an invasion by the Jiadin. Not only do the other lords refuse to help him, but they are actively trying to ruin him through attacks and assassination attempts. The secret alliances long held by Lord Marak are eventually discovered as Marak first ascends to the Lords’ Council and eventually becomes Emperor of Khadora. At the conclusion of volume four, Emperor Marak is uniting Khadora under his banner. His plan is to rally all of the armies to help him combat the coming invasion of evil.

In Island of Darkness , a false Katana again rules Omunga. War is declared on the Sakovans even while Vand’s people poison the food supply of Omunga. Emperor Marak guides Lyra as she attempts to win the war without causing too many casualties. She knows about the coming invasion from across the sea and is forced to preserve as many of her Omungan enemy as possible. Meanwhile, Mistake and MistyTrail discover that they are sisters. They set out on a sea voyage and are shipwrecked off the Island of Darkness. As they search for a way to get home, the sisters discover elves, which were long thought to be extinct. In their bid for freedom, the sisters must rescue a pair of elves to get them off the island. During the rescues, the women discover many dark secrets of the evil enemy. At the end of volume five, Emperor Marak has ordered his people to deliver Mistake and her new friends to Khadoratung where he hopes to learn more about Vand and the lost nation of elves.

Thousands of years ago…

Kieran yawned and stretched as the first rays of the sun peeked through the window of his small room. He rose from the bed and walked to the window. His almond-shaped eyes blinked twice as he gazed out at the sunlight flashing through the trees of the forest. His right hand rose reflexively to shade his face from the glare of the morning sun. The young elf inhaled deeply, as if to sample the air of the new day, before turning to the washbasin on the table next to the window. He quickly washed and excitedly hurried to the kitchen for the morning meal.

“The sun is already up,” his mother chided jokingly. “You have already lost the first race of the day.”

“Good morning, Mother,” smiled Kieran. “I guess I did stay up too late last night, but I want very much to score highly on the test today. I still have several hours before I must be there.”

“You worry too much,” his mother smiled as she placed a bowl of oatmeal on the table. “Your talents are strong, and you study hard. You will do fine.”

“I know,” nodded Kieran as he sat down and drew the bowl to him. “Doing fine is not the question, though. I seek to score the highest ever recorded on the mage test. I think I can do it.”

“I am sure that you can,” smiled his mother. “I suppose you will be studying some more before you leave this morning?”

“No, Mother,” Kieran replied seriously as he pushed the bowl of oatmeal away and rose from his chair. “More studying will not help me. I am going to the temple to pray.”

Kieran’s mother smiled proudly as her son rose. Kieran hugged her and then rushed out the door of the house and down the flight of stairs to the beach. As he ran along the beach towards the center of Alamanda, his eyes were drawn towards the sea. He almost stumbled and fell as he came to an abrupt halt.

Far off on the horizon were a dozen large ships, far more than Kieran had ever seen at any one time. His eyes strained to identify them, but they were too far off. He shrugged and continued his run towards the elven city and the temple within it.

The elven homes that he raced past were modest wooden structures nestled in the sevemore trees that lined the beach. He paid no mind to them as his eyes focused on the gleaming stone buildings of the city before him. Excitement coursed through his body as his feet left the sand and landed on the stone blocks of the city street. His eyes darted towards the quay where elven trading ships were loading goods destined for foreign and exotic shores. On any other morning, Kieran would have been tempted to stay and watched the loading and listen to the stories told by the elven sailors, but not today. Today was a special day. It was the day of his mage testing.

Kieran turned away from the harbor and ran towards the temple. He smiled and waved to friends and strangers alike as he raced through the city streets. Many of the residents of Alamanda knew Kieran and most knew that this day was his day of testing. Shouts of encouragement followed Kieran all the way to the temple. He grinned broadly at the encouragement as he slowed to a walk at the base of the stairs to the temple. As excited as he was, Kieran knew better than to run within the temple.