Raised to the elite sciences of his Vanadis and realm, Bron Thorsen must learn the arcane powers of the ancient Goddess Realm of Iolann, fallen into darkness and lost beyond the count of years…
Erika and Bron Thorsen have taken refuge in the forbidding primeval forest of the Nordwald, north of the Vanirania Realm. As the mate of a priestess, Thorsen must be trained to the Goddess path, and Erika must buy time for his training in the shadowy fastnesses of the Nordwald. Although wishing to keep on the move and fearful that they are hiding too near the realm for safety, Thorsen must absorb the lore of Erika’s ancient order of priestesses, the Altinara of Iolann, as quickly as he can
The Vanadis, meanwhile, chooses a new and subtle approach to capturing the fugitives. She bides her time until she herself can get an offer of reconciliation into their hands without frightening them into flight. Eventually Barbara Salter, her Privy Councilor, will arrive at Erika’s Nordwald camp to offer terms and evaluate the first outlander known to exist since the Dark Days…
Councilor Salter also brings news never before heard in the realm. A plot against the Vanadis has been uncovered at the Tower, and while many of the key plotters have been taken, others remain at large. When many of their dupes flee into the wilderness beyond the realm, Targa and his Rangers arrive at Erika’s camp…
As Rangers make her camp into a stronghold and begin combing the dark reaches of the Nordwald for fugitives, Erika must help where she may. Driven by a sense that time is not on her side, she must win the respect and good will of her former pursuers, while making the most of this chance to study realmsfolk at first hand. Learning what is expected of her, and realizing that the fate of all other outlanders may rest with her, she must win Councilor Salter as an ally and become the realmswoman the Vanadis expects her to be, while surrendering none of her identity and skills as a priestess…
However, those must be hidden from the Vanadis, Councilor Salter, Targa and all others, for Erika has already learned that in the realm, there is no knowledge or concept of either Goddess or priestesses.
In the realm, there is only the Vanadis, her arts and her sciences, which seize and hold Erika’s curiosity, despite the fear they bear for her…
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