Shadow Magic

Synopsis

In Alkyra, children's tales are told of a time long past when humankind shared the land with folk who had magic in their blood and bones: the small, fierce Wyrds of the forest; the proud Shee in their mountain citadel craved of ice-white rock; and the shimmering Neira of the dark sea. As a child, Alethia had shivered in delicious fright when the bards sang the lays of Alkyra's mythical past. But as a grown woman her nightmares come from the world of human reality: the spreading discontent in a land ruled by querlous noble families, and the soft rumors of war. As a daughter of one of Alkyra's leading families, she has no time now for children's tales. Until she learns that they are all true.