Search Worlds Without End

Tempus: Avatar of the war-god Vashanka, he carves his anti-magical philosophy in the bodies of the detestable mages and demons of a world he never made but is cursed to inhabit.

Niko: No godling he, just a warrior who has found the secret of his soul in the mysterious Western Isles--and so wields a pure and faithful power that makes him all too attractive to the gods and elementals of a world infested mainly with murderers and thieves.

Together: Needing time to recover from the spells of a witch who nearly ate his soul, Niko will recover his self-mastery by reliving in utterly vivid detail all the most violent and transforming moments of his past--and that of his rightside leader, Tempus.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Parts of this work have been published in substantially similar form in several volumes of the shared universe series, THIEVES' WORLD.

The Sacred Band of Stepsons is a fictional ancient cavalry unit created by Janet Morris and based on the historical Sacred Band of Thebes, an elite strike force of paired lovers and friends that flourished during the fourth century BCE in ancient Greece, where sexuality was a behavior, not an identity.

The Sacred Band of Stepsons series of fantasy novels and stories take place in a myth-like milieu that mixes historical places such as Nisibis, Mygdonia and Chaeronea; warriors such as Theagenes (commander of the Theban Sacred Band at Chaeronea); gods such as Enlil, Maat and Harmonia; philosophers such as Heraclitus and Thales; cavalry tactics and customs such as homosexuality in the militaries of ancient Greece with those that exist only in fantasy. The exploits of the Stepsons are chronicled in eleven short stories and eight novels (as of 2010). In a fantasy context, this series explores the difficulties facing war-fighters in personal relationships and the enduring questions surrounding the military's historical mixing of homosexuals and heterosexuals in combat.

Is this the Lemuria of antiquity, or of times to come? Once you've ridden the storm clouds of heaven from the edge of time, anything is possible.

Demonic hordes threaten to destroy the very fabric of time itself. The fate of all humanity rests on the shoulders of Tempus the Black, Favorite of the Storm God. But even this hero of legend will encounter a challenge he has never faced before... present-day New York City.

Tempus, immortal hero, avatar of the Storm God, ruler of the City at the Edge of Time, joins with his partner Nikko to reunite the Secret Band for a mission of vengeance that will takes them to the farthest reaches of time and space - and back home again.