Search Worlds Without End

In the icy northern realm of Eron, three young artisans bound by an unspeakable act of violence arrive at an isolated gem mine on a special commission for their king. They are the arrogant but talented Eddyn; Avall, his archrival; and beautiful Strynn, newly wed to Avall, but carrying Eddyn's child.

Meanwhile, to the south, amid Ixti's scorpion-riddled sands and sensuous cities, a horrible accident has forced Prince Kraxxi into exile with blood on his hands and a price on his head.

The four will be drawn together--and torn apart--by a magnificent find: a gem with magical properties beyond anyone's imagining or control. It is a struggle in which hidden forces pursue a frighteningly sinister agenda. For whoever possesses the gem holds the future of the world... and the power to destroy it.

As the realm of Eron sits frozen in the grip of winter, two men struggle through the snow-clogged Wild toward the citadel of their king: the arrogant goldsmith Eddyn, haunted by his past crimes, and his bitter rival, Avall, anxious to increase the power of his clan. Each man brings news of a magical gem discovered in the northern mines.

Meanwhile, Avall's twin sister, Merryn, and her lover, exiled prince Kraxxi, have been captured by Kraxxi's outraged father. As Ixti's king readies his first assault in a devastating war against an unsuspecting Eron, he will force Merryn and Kraxxi to terrible betrayals that will bring Eron's fall ever nearer. As the armies of Ixti crash across the border, Avall and Eddyn must seek their destinies. For each knows the power of the magical gem and can use it for unbelievable good-or unimaginable evil.

Peace has come to the realm of Eron, and with it a new High King: young, inexperienced Avall, victor in the war against Ixti, sole possessor of the magical gems taken from the mines of the frozen north. But as Eron attempts to heal from the bloody conflict and a devastating plague, unrest once again grips this troubled land, stirred up by a secret cabal of powerful priests who call themselves the Ninth Face.

Avall struggles to quell the unrest and to understand and control the boundless magic of the mysterious gems. At the same time, his twin sister, Merryn, must make her own arduous journey a step ahead of those who would gladly claim her life. But it is the fanatical leaders of the Ninth Face who pose the greatest danger. They have put in motion a deadly plan to drive Avall from the throne, destroy the power of the noble clans, and take possession of the gems themselves-all in the name of their unbending god. For Eron the choice is stark indeed: an imperfect and inexperienced king... or the tyranny of the righteous.

While the Ninth Face, a dark religious sect, consolidate their grip on the capital city of Eron, far to the north King Avall's army attempts to rescue the king himself from imprisonment at Gem-Hold-Winter, now controlled by Zeff, a Ninth Face fanatic. But Avall is no longer there. Aided by the blind harpist Kylin, he has escaped from the hold in a blaze of improbable magic that transported the king and his closest followers to a dangerous wilderness.

As the royal armies prepare for siege and Eron's capital seethes with growing rebellion, Avall and his comrades must retrieve the magical Lightning Sword--now lost by Avall's sister, Merryn--and make their way back to the embattled citadel. Only when Avall has regained the Sword can he march on Eron's capital for a final showdown with the righteous priests whose law is total obedience and whose god is total power.

When Earth meets Keltia will star empires fall?

When lore became legend on ancient Earth and the powers of magic waned, the Kelts and their allies fled the planet for the freedom of distant star realms.

But the stars were home to dangerous foes, and millennia later, the worlds of Keltia still maintained uneasy truce with two enemy empires - the Imperium and the Phalanx. Then, at the start of the reign of Aeron, mistress of high magic and queen of all the Kelts, an Earthship made contact with her long-fled children. And while Earth and Keltia reached out to form alliance, the star fleets of the enemy mobilized for final, devastating war.

Aeron, Queen of the Kelts, has fled to the stars on a desperate mission to find the fabled Thirteen Treasures of King Arthur, hidden from his Keltic descendants for fifteen hundred years. Her search will lead from the depths of space, where worlds are born, to the heart of an ancient enemy's stronghold and on to a trial of courage and magic that even the Queen of the Kelts may not survive!

And while Aeron pursues her destiny among the stars, all the forces of Keltia are mobilizing for a war that could set the very worlds ablaze--a war that can only be won if Aeron returns triumphant from her doom-shadowed quest.

She was Aeron, heir to the throne of Keltia at a time when the people of the Keltic worlds had not yet re-established contact with their distant brethren of Earth...and when dangerous foes were mobilizing to destroy this mighty space empire hidden beneath its seemingly impenetrable magic-fueled Curtain Wall. From events long before her birth which would shape the worlds and the burdens she would inherit...to her first discovery of the magic that could move the very sun from its path...to the dangerous rites of passage that would make her sorcerer, warrior, avenger, and ultimately Queen...this is the tale of Aeron -- mistress of high magic, and last defender of the Kelts -- whose brilliant powers of sorcery would change the destiny of friends and foes alike when war finally exploded across the starways.