Alcasia has been a hunter since a very young age. She hunts the most dangerous animal in the Great Forest of Rhent. The huge beasts skin hardens into a substance called brontum which is necessary in this world where iron is very rare. When taxes are raised, she ventures further than any other hunter to try and keep her family secure. This is when she accidently runs across an invading foreign army clad in steel. After escaping from this force she returns home to find these strange invaders...

When outlaws Amaranthe and Sicarius chance upon imperial spies stealing military prototypes, they immediately give chase. Well, immediately after Amaranthe talks Sicarius, former assassin and all-around non-altruistic type, into the mission. After all, they both want imperial pardons, and what better way to attract the emperor's favor than by looking after the empire's interests?What seems like a straightforward mission develops a hitch when the spies flee to Darkcrest Isle, a forb...

Even though Basilard is the official Mangdorian ambassador to the Turgonian Republic, he still isn’t fully trusted by his pacifist people. After he was enslaved and forced to entertain spectators in pit fights that left him scarred and mute, his kin turned their backs on him, condemning him for choosing violence. They don’t let him travel home without supervision, and he isn’t allowed to see his daughter.When trouble arises in his homeland, a mysterious blight that could cause wide...

A visit from Yanko’s older brother is interrupted when an alarm blasts through the mine. Mutilated workers have been found dead in a newly opened tunnel.Yanko has been studying to become a mage, and his brother is a soldier, so they believe they are prepared to deal with this unknown threat, but what awaits them in the subterranean depths is nothing the mine has seen in its hundreds of years of operation.Death from Below is a 13,000-word novella.

Goldenhand is the long-awaited fifth installment of Garth Nix's New York Times bestselling Old Kingdom seriesLirael is no longer a shy Second Assistant Librarian. She is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, with dead creatures to battle and Free Magic entities to bind. She's also a Remembrancer, and wielder of the Dark Mirror.When Lirael finds Nicholas Sayre lying unconscious after being attacked by a hideous Free Magic creature, she uses her powers to...

A tale of magic, revenge, and bitter death—on the rain-spattered streets of the great city. This is epic fantasy not "in the tradition of Tolkien," but, instead, sensual, ominous, shot through with the sweat of fear and the intoxication of power.One of the most prolific new writers of the decade, Lake won 2004's John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His novels include Mainspring, Escapement, Pinion, and Green. The world of Green is also the setting ...

A royal bodyguard takes the flight of his life through a fantastical realm on a medieval planet—from the author of the Seventh Sword series.Sald Harl would like nothing more than to soar on the wings of his noble eagle, but his youthful rides in the sky are cut short by an appointment to guard the prince. Sald watches his dreams of flight fade with his name and independence as he takes over his bodyguard duties. During a perilous journey to the edges of the kingdom,...

Darweena must choose to fight for the Forest Folk in an epic battle against the beasts. Will she choose love over her home? A short story of 3700 words.

A classic fantasy quest - with an exciting dinosaur twist - from the creator of the Laws of Magic series and the Quentaris Chronicles.When Queen Tayesha threatens to conquer all seven kingdoms of Krangor and thus break the ancient bond between the saur and the land, one young noble vows to stop her. Adalon's promise sets him on a perilous quest. He and his loyal friends, Targesh and Simangee, must find a safe haven, far from the queen's bloodthirsty soldiers. Beyon...

Sicarius, the emperor's personal assassin, returns from a successful mission only to discover that the enemy is retaliating by sending an assassin of their own. The target? Five-year-old Prince Sespian.Shadows over Innocence is a 4,500-word short story set fourteen years before the first Emperor's Edge novel.

In a time before the Dragon Wars consumed Tarmor, the Dragonsouls ruled over the five races. Then, during the destruction of the Cataclysm that followed the wars, the Dragonsouls disappeared. Most wizards thought them destroyed forever, and a great peace settled over the land, each of the five races finding its place, decimated and hidden as it may be. But the winds of Chaos blow eternal, and peace can never last. Secrets thought hidden are oft discovered. Though magic only remains in the ...

Generations ago, Teth was a mighty city--the epicentre of a great kingdom. Now it is a ruin, a collection of broken stone buildings and overgrown plazas.Yet deep within the city's palace, the treasure vaults wait to be plundered.Now a party of treasure hunters from the nearby port of Pivar's Rest have come to reclaim the city's greatest prize, the mythical Veiled Blade of Teth. They come with the a descendant of Teth's Royal line, a girl named Hillia. And in turn she comes ...