T. C. Southwell

A doomed kingdom, a young queen's sacrifice and a killer who will bring an empire to its knees... In a world where men share kindred with beasts, the Idol of the Beasts predicts a child who will end the Endless War after centuries of strife, but first the enemy king must die and his son be brought to the Jashimari Queen in chains... After numerous failed attempts, killing King Shandor seems impossible, until an assassin offers to do the deed. His success places the Crown Prince at Queen Minna-Satu's mercy, and Blade becomes the instrument of her wrath. Forged in the fires of fury, his heart died long ago in the desert kingdom. His glance is as icy as his smile is disarming, and the fires of passion will never stir his blood. He is the Master of the Dance in Jondar, the best to ever hold the title. Driven by hatred and with the skills of his trade, he will usher in a time of strife and pain that will live in legend, and forever bear his name. He is the instrument who can change fate. He is the Queen's Blade.

Book One of the Queen's Blade Series

The Queen's Blade

When a young peasant girl is injured while hunting, she meets a strange, magical man who is a member of a despised race - Mujar. Truemen scorn the shape-shifting unmen for their odd, humble ways, and envy their power over the elements. Mujar do not use their powers for good or evil, they simply exist, immortal and apparently purposeless. Now a scourge is sweeping the land, armies of mounted warriors who cannot be defeated are wiping out Truemankind without mercy. They are known as the Black Riders, but no one knows where they come from or why they seem bent on exterminating every man, woman and child. Talsy traps the Mujar with gold, which has an odd effect on them, to make him help her, but her father intends to throw him in a Pit, from which he will be unable to escape. Talsy does not believe the Mujar deserves such a fate, so she frees him and begs him to take her with him on his journey. He agrees, and they set off across Shamarese, continuing his quest to find an old hermit's lost son. There is far more at stake than Talsy realises, however, and she has innocently stumbled upon the last free Mujar, who has the power to decide the fate of her race.

Book I of the Broken World Series

Children of Another God

An ancient prophecy, a dying world, a human girl and a masked outlaw; Earth is doomed, but a wild girl can save the greatest space-faring empire from an unknown threat.Hunters from the stars search a dying Earth for a saviour, yet no one will aid the ruined planet. Rayne and her brother fight to survive in a world gone mad, their skills honed by danger and deprivation. A prophecy in an ancient tome predicts a golden child who will save the Atlantean Empire, the greatest power in the galaxy. An ancient black ship is her guide and a reviled slaver lord her guardian. Others will try to slay her to prevent the prophecy from coming true. In the midst of two galactic empires' strife, a mysterious outlaw known as the Shrike holds the power to save or destroy the Golden Child. One thing is certain: Earth will die.

Book I of the Slave Empire Series

Prophecy

The archangel Majelin has been imprisoned and tortured in the underworld of Sherinias' domain for five centuries. Eventually, his light will die and he will fall to the darkness. Whispers of a tar'merin travelling with Kayos have reached Airedene, giving Sarmalin hope that her husband might be saved, and she goes to plead with the Demon Lord. The archangel is in a chamber warded against dark gods, however, so Bane must enter it powerless, or Majelin will die. Bane is forced to use the shadows when demon guardians attack, triggering the trap. He follows the archangel into the underworld's depths to protect him, and they fall into a hidden world inhabited by legendary beings from the Times of Reckoning. Many of Bane's powers do not work there, and his attempts to escape fail, but if he does not return to Sherinias' domain in time, the dark gods he cast down will rise again and enslave the child goddess. He must find a way out, but the further he travels and the more he learns about the hidden realm, the more he fears that he is in a prison created by a Grey God, and there is no way out...

When Angels Fall

The Demon Lord has travelled far across the God Realm to free the Fallen Goddess, and now he faces his greatest challenge. The demon gods are a considerable nuisance on the voyage, and a new factor makes Bane even warier of pitfalls, but no one foresees the danger that waits. In order to free Kayos' granddaughter, Ashynaria, Bane must avoid detection or risk a confrontation. Without her co-operation, however, the plan will go horribly wrong. The dark god Telvaron is ancient and wise, and poses a dire threat, as Kayos warned. Some of his worst fears are realised, and a few he failed to predict. Bane is betrayed and flung into the last place in the God Realm anyone would wish to go; a place the Grey Gods have tried to forget, without success, despite naming them the Forgotten Lands. Injured and crippled by the celestial metal, adamante, Bane is alone, save for Majelin, the only one able to follow him. To escape the dangers of the hostile and unpredictable region, they take what appears to be the only quick route out that may find help, but it brings them to the ancient, accursed city of Naskara, where even greater perils await.

The Forgotten Lands

Talsy and Chanter return to the peaceful vale, where she gives birth to his son - a creature of the chaos. Travain has stunted Mujar powers and a Trueman personality, making him dangerous and unpredictable, and he is also angry at his father's apparent neglect. Mujar, however, do not care for their children, who are born fully formed and independent. Travain grows quickly, and is everything Chanter warned Talsy he might be. Chanter finds the last piece of the broken Staff of Law and makes it whole, but the laws are lost. His first son is born on the eastern continent they left behind so long ago, but he is blinded by strange golden lights in his mind. He names himself Law, and finds shelter in a hive of semi-ants. The next generation are manants, and attack him, forcing Law to flee into the chaos. In his search for shelter, he travels to the western continent, where Truemen capture him. The wind informs Chanter of his plight, and Talsy insists that they save him. That means venturing into the chaos once more, and now it is far worse than it was before.

Book IV of the Broken World Series

Staff of Law

The Queen's Blade returns to Jashimari to await the reward the Idol of the Beasts promised him for saving Minna-Satu's life - the rebirth of his familiar. Rivan is reborn in the spring, and Blade knows the wonder and joy of bonding with his familiar again, which he lost when the Cotti slew the wood cat at the Rout of Ashtalon, when Blade was just twelve years old. Prince Dravis, however, who has fled to Contara to evade the Cotti courts that have condemned him for murdering Trelath, seeks vengeance. His soldiers capture Blade in the village where he is living while Rivan reaches adulthood and take him to Contara. There, Dravis tries to force the assassin to kill Kerrion, After escaping with the aid of a few lies, Blade assassinates the Prince instead, but then falls foul of another of Kerrion's half-brothers, this time an older, illegitimate one. In Jondar, Chiana receives a message that the Queen's Blade is dead, along with a half-rotted head. Although Kerra refuses to accept it at first, Chiana fears that it is true and sends a company of soldiers to Ashmarad, capital of Contara, to find him, or his body. In Cotti, the news of Blade's death saddens Minna-Satu, and Kerrion promises her retribution, but no one knows who killed the Queen's Blade, or if, indeed, the legendary assassin is truly dead.

Lord Protector

The Staff of Law has been broken and the world will descend into chaos unless it is restored, but the pieces are scattered all around the world, and one shard is lost. Knowing that the world cannot be saved, Chanter creates a safe haven for the chosen, but Talsy refuses to give up. She persuades the Mujar to take her and Kieran on a quest to find the pieces of the shattered Staff, which means venturing into the chaos beyond the sheltered valley where Chanter keeps the world in order with Mujar laws. Accompanied by warriors from a plains tribe blessed with the power to speak to horses, the trio traverse a wild and dangerous land where the natural laws have lost their power and deadly chaos beasts roam in search of prey. Nothing is as it should be, and waves of wild Earthpower sweep across the land, turning everything to stone. The Black Riders have become Ghost Riders, animated by the spirits of the Truemen they have slain, which they carry within them. The dangers of the wild land take a toll on the searchers, and, even if Chanter finds the shards, the laws have been lost forever, scattered by the winds and turned to dust. Unless the Staff of Law is made whole again and the lost laws are restored, the world is doomed.

Book III of the Broken World Series

A Land Without Law

Kerrion's daughter, the infant Queen Kerra-Manu, has saved her kingdom from conquest, and her father has driven the Contara from her land. Chiana is Regent, and the assassin and his queen are the enemy king's prisoners, but the Queen's Blade refuses to serve his foe. Not even imprisonment and the humiliation of the jailer's whip will sway Blade, who defies Kerrion to force his hand. Unless he slays the Cotti princes who plot against his queen, however, she will die. Blade does not believe that Kerrion loves Minna-Satu and saved her from the Queen's Cup to wed her. Cotti Kings have many wives and concubines, and treat women as chattel. Only the Queen herself can convince him of the truth of her feelings and Kerrion's, and then Cotti Princes will taste the assassin's blade to ensure her safety and win Blade's freedom, but powerful men plot his demise and that of the infant queen. When Blade returns to Jashimari, Prince Armin hunts him down and attempts to force him to name his client, but the assassin will die before he betrays his Guild. Once more, the fate of a kingdom and two queens rests in the hands of the Queen's Blade.

T. C. Southwell

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