{"product_id":"the-darkest-road-isbn-9780451458339","title":"The Darkest Road","description":"\u003cb\u003eFive men and women from our world face a battle with an evil beyond imagining in the deeply moving conclusion to Guy Gavriel Kay’s acclaimed Fionavar Tapestry.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the Unraveller’s armies assemble, those resisting him must call upon the most ancient of powers, knowing that if this realm of gods and magic is conquered by evil, the ripples of destruction will be felt across all worlds. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut despite the sacrifices made and courage shown, all may be undone because of one child’s choice. For that one has been born of both Darkness and Light, and he alone must walk the darkest road as the fate of worlds hangs in the balance... | \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for The Fionovar Tapestry\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Kay has delivered such a magnificent...volume that I can’t praise it enough. The Fionavar Tapestry is a work that will be read for many years to come. It is a book that makes one proud to be working in the same genre as its author.”—Charles de Lint\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I’m overwhelmed...\u003ci\u003eThe Summer Tree\u003c\/i\u003e is one of those books that change your perception of the world forever afterward.”—Marion Zimmer Bradley\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A remarkable achievement…the essence of high fantasy.”—\u003ci\u003eLocus\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Kay’s intricate Celtic background will please fantasy buffs...in the manner of \u003ci\u003eThe Silmarillion\u003c\/i\u003e, the posthumous Tolkien work that Kay helped edit.”—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Immense scale, literary richness and dazzling heroes.”—\u003ci\u003eToronto Star\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Certainly this is one of the very best of the fantasies which have appeared since Tolkien, and I trust it will be recognized as such.”—Andre Norton\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e“This is the only fantasy work I know which does not suffer by comparison to \u003ci\u003eThe Lord of the Rings\u003c\/i\u003e.”—\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eInterzone\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e“Can be compared only with Tolkien’s masterpiece. A passionate battle between good and evil...it delights the spirit.”—\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eStar-Phoenix\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Satisfying...a highly literate, lovingly detailed work of fantasy.”—\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eFantasy Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Kay's bestselling—and stunning—fantasy trilogy finds its power not in its feats of imagination or world-building (though there are dazzling heapings of both) but from its rootedness in the reality of human emotions and relationships.”—\u003ci\u003eThe Globe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A grand galloping narrative...reverberates with centuries of mythic and incantory implications—with a little Prince Hal and Falstaff on the side.”—\u003ci\u003eChristian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003eThe Fionavar Tapestry\u003c\/i\u003e, when all is said and done, is one of the most beautifully written and moving fantasy trilogies ever written. Those are very large words, but I truly believe this book is large enough to fit into such a reputation.”—Green Man Review | \u003cb\u003eGuy Gavriel Kay\u003c\/b\u003e is the international bestselling author of numerous fantasy novels including The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, \u003ci\u003eTigana\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Light of the Sun\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eUnder Heaven\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eRiver of Stars\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eChildren of Earth and Sky\u003c\/i\u003e. He has been awarded the International Goliardos Prize for his work in the literature of the fantastic, and won the World Fantasy Award for \u003ci\u003eYsabel \u003c\/i\u003ein 2008. In 2014 he was named to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor. His works have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. | \u003cp\u003eAnd so the time of prophecy has come at last, the final days for those who dwell in Fionavar, the first of all worlds. Even as the Unraveller’s armies march to battle, the warriors of Light are calling upon the most ancient of powers to aid in their struggle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut despite all that can be done by mage lore and earth magic, and the sacrifices made by those brought from our own world, all may come to naught because of one child’s choice. For he was born of Darkness and Light, and as the fate of all the worlds hangs in the balance, he alone must walk \u003ci\u003eThe Darkest Road\u003c\/i\u003e. . . .\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A remarkable achievement . . . the essence of high fantasy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLocus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This is the only fantasy work I know which does not suffer by comparison to \u003ci\u003eThe Lord of the Rings.\u003c\/i\u003e”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—\u003ci\u003eInterzone\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A grand galloping narrative . . . reverberates with centuries of mythic and incantory implications—with a little Prince Hal and Falstaff on the side.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—\u003ci\u003eChristian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“As fine a piece of fantasy as has been published for some time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—\u003ci\u003eWinnipeg Free Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Kay has an acrobatic imagination . . . one ingenious plot after another . . . well-staged and presented.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—\u003ci\u003eMontreal Gazette\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Excellent fantasy reading . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Fionavar Tapestry\u003c\/i\u003e will deserve a place among the best of fantasy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—\u003ci\u003eRegina Leader Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLook for the other volumes of \u003ci\u003eThe Fionavar Tapestry:\u003cbr\u003eThe Summer Tree\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Wandering Fire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAt the end of this road as at the beginning of all roads\u003cbr\u003eare my parents, Sybil and Sam Kay. This tapestry is theirs.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe\u003cbr\u003eDarkest\u003cbr\u003eRoad\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Fionavar Tapestry:\u003cbr\u003eBook Three\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eGuy Gavriel Kay\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Summer Tree\u003c\/i\u003e it was told how Loren Silvercloak and Matt Sören, a mage and his magical source from the High Kingdom of Brennin in the world of Fionavar, induced five people from our own world to “cross” with them to Fionavar. Their ostensible purpose was to have the five participate in the festivities attendant on the celebration of the fiftieth year of the reign of Ailell, the High King. In fact, there were darker premonitions underlying the mage’s actions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Brennin, a brutal drought was afflicting the kingdom. Ailell’s older son, Aileron, had already been exiled for cursing his father’s refusal to allow him to sacrifice himself on the Summer Tree in an effort to end the drought.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Fionavar, the five strangers quickly found themselves drawn into the complex tapestry of events. Kim Ford was recognized by the aged Seer, Ysanne, as the successor she had prophetically dreamt. Kim was initiated into the knowledge of the Seers by the water spirit, Eilathen, and presented with the Baelrath, the “Warstone” that Ysanne had been guarding. Kim was also shown the Circlet of Lisen, a gem that shone with its own light. The beautiful Lisen, a power of Pendaran Wood, had been the magical source and the beloved companion of Amairgen Whitebranch, the first of the mages. She had killed herself, leaping into the sea from her Tower, upon learning that Amairgen had died. Ysanne told Kim the prophecy that accompanied the Circlet: “Who shall wear this next, after Lisen, shall have the darkest road to walk of any child of earth or stars.” Later, as a last gesture of ultimate sacrifice on the eve of war, Ysanne, knowing Kim would have need of the old Seer’s power in the days to come, used Lökdal, the magic dagger of the Dwarves, to kill herself—but not before tracing a symbol on the brow of the sleeping Kim, which action enabled her to make of her own soul a gift for Kimberly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile, Paul Schafer and Kevin Laine were initiated in quite a different way. Paul played—and lost—a night game of chess with the High King in the palace of Paras Derval, during which an unexpected bond of sympathy was forged between the two. The next morning he and Kevin joined the band of the reckless Prince Diarmuid, Ailell’s younger son, in a raid across the River Saeren to Cathal, the Garden Country. There, Diarmuid achieved his intended seduction of Sharra, the Princess of Cathal. After the company’s return to Brennin, they passed a wild night in the Black Boar tavern. Late at night a song Kevin sang reminded Paul too acutely of the death in a car accident of Rachel Kincaid, the woman he had loved. Paul, blaming himself for the accident, which had occurred moments after Rachel had announced she was going to wed someone else, took a drastic step: he approached the High King and received Ailell’s sanction to sacrifice himself in the King’s stead on the Summer Tree.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe next night, the glade of the Summer Tree in the Godwood saw an epic battle. As Paul, bound on the Tree, watched helplessly, Galadan the Wolflord, who had come to claim Paul’s life, was opposed and driven back by a mysterious grey dog. The following night—Paul’s third on the Tree—a red full moon shone in the sky on a new moon night, as Dana, the Mother Goddess, granted Paul release from his guilt, by showing that he had not, in fact, subconsciously willed the accident that had killed Rachel. As Paul wept, rain finally fell over Brennin. Paul, though, did not die. He was taken down from the Tree alive by Jaelle, the High Priestess of Dana. Henceforth Paul would carry another name: Pwyll Twiceborn, Lord of the Summer Tree.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy now it was clear that an epochal confrontation was at hand: Rakoth Maugrim, the Unraveller, defeated a thousand years before and bound under the great mountain, Rangat, had freed himself and had caused the mountain to explode with a hand of fire to proclaim that fact.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis freedom was to have immediate consequences for Jennifer Lowell, the fourth of the strangers. In Paras Derval she had witnessed an unsettling incident during a children’s counting game. A young girl, Leila, had “called” a boy named Finn to “take the Longest Road” for the third time that summer. No one, not even Jaelle, who had also been watching, knew exactly what that meant, though Jaelle was quick to enlist Leila as an acolyte in the Temple. The next day, riding outside the town walls, Jennifer met Brendel of the lios alfar—the Children of Light—and a party of his people. She spent the night in the woods with them, and in the darkness they were attacked. Concerned about the arrival of the five strangers, Rakoth Maugrim had Galadan and Metran—the traitorous First Mage of Brennin—abduct Jennifer. She was bound to the back of the black swan, Avaia, and borne north to Rakoth’s fortress of Starkadh.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile, the terrifying explosion of the mountain had caused the death of the aged High King. This led to a tense confrontation between Diarmuid and his brother, Aileron—who had been disguised as Ysanne’s servant since his exile. The potentially violent situation was ended by Diarmuid’s voluntarily relinquishing his claim to the throne, but not before he’d received a knife in the shoulder, courtesy of Sharra of Cathal, who had come to Brennin to seek vengeance on him for the deception that had led to her seduction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the meantime, Dave Martyniuk, the last of the five strangers, had been separated from the others in the crossing to Fionavar. He ended up far to the north among the Dalrei, the “Riders,” on the Plain, and found himself drawn into the life of the third tribe, led by Ivor, their Chieftain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIvor’s young son, Tabor, fasting in the forest for a vision of his totem animal, dreamt a seemingly impossible creature: a winged, chestnut unicorn. Three nights later, at the edge of the Great Wood, Pendaran, he met and flew upon this creature of his fast, Imraith-Nimphais—a double-edged gift of the Goddess, born of the red full moon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile, Dave was escorted toward Brennin by a party of Dalrei led by Ivor’s older son, Levon. The company was ambushed by a great number of the evil svart alfar, and only Dave, Levon, and a third Dalrei, Torc, survived by riding into the darkness of Pendaran Wood. The trees and spirits of Pendaran, hating all men since the loss of the beautiful Lisen of the Wood a thousand years before, plotted the death of the three men, but they were saved by the intervention of Flidais, a diminutive forest power, who claimed, among other things, to know the answers to all the riddles in all the worlds, save one: the name by which the “Warrior” could be summoned. As it happened, the search for this name was one of the tasks Ysanne had left with Kimberly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFlidais sent word to Ceinwen, the capricious, green-clad goddess of the Hunt, who had taken a special liking to Dave. The goddess arranged for the three friends to awaken safely on the southern edge of the Great Wood in the morning.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe did more. She also caused Dave to find a long-lost object of power: Owein’s Horn. Levon, who had been taught by wise old Gereint, the blind shaman of his tribe, then found the Cave of the Sleepers nearby—a cave wherein Owein and the kings of the Wild Hunt lay asleep.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe three friends rode south with this knowledge to Paras Derval, in time to arrive for the first council of Aileron’s reign. The council was interrupted twice. The first time, by the arrival of Brock, a Dwarf from Banir Tal who knelt before Matt Sören—once King of the Dwarves—and proffered the terrible tidings that the Dwarves, under the leadership of two brothers, Kaen and Blöd, had helped the Unraveller to free himself by treacherously breaking the wardstone of Eridu, thus preventing any warning of Rakoth’s stirring under the mountain. They had also found and delivered to Rakoth the Cauldron of Khath Meigol, which had the power to raise the newly dead.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the midst of this terrifying recitation, Kimberly suddenly saw—in a vision shaped by the Baelrath—Jennifer being raped and tortured by Rakoth in his fortress of Starkadh. She gathered Dave, Paul, and Kevin around her, reached out for Jennifer with the wild power of her ring, and drew the five of them out of Fionavar back to their own world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd so ended \u003ci\u003eThe Summer Tree.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Wandering Fire\u003c\/i\u003e picked up the story some six months later, in November and back in Toronto, with Kimberly waiting for the dream that would give her the Warrior’s summoning name. Jennifer, badly scarred in her soul and carrying the child of Rakoth Maugrim—having vowed to give birth to that child as her answer to the Dark—was brought early to her time by a sudden crossing back to Fionavar. The crossing was achieved by Paul when the two of them were threatened by Galadan, who had crossed to their world in pursuit of Paul.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Fionavar, Jennifer’s child, Darien, was left to be secretly fostered in the house of Vae and Shahar, the parents of Finn—the boy called by the children’s counting game to “take the Longest Road.” The only persons informed of the secret were the priestesses of Dana, because Paul and Jennifer needed Jaelle’s magic to send them home.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe following spring Kim finally had the dream for which she had been waiting. As a result, the five traveled to Stonehenge where Kim raised the spirit of Uther Pendragon by the power of the Baelrath and compelled him to name his son’s resting place. Kim then went alone, by the magic she carried, to Glastonbury Tor and there—having first sent the others ahead to Fionavar—she drew the Warrior, Arthur, from his rest by the summoning name: Childslayer. The name was an echo of the sin Arthur had committed in his youth after discovering his inadvertent incest with his sister. Kim and the Warrior followed the others to Paras Derval.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn icy winter gripped Fionavar, even as midsummer approached—a winter so terrible that Fordaetha, the Ice Queen of Rük, was able to come as far south as Paras Derval. She almost killed Paul in the Black Boar tavern before he succeeded in driving her back north. It was decided in council that Jaelle and the mages and Kimberly would join with Gereint, the old shaman, in an attempt to magically probe the source of the killing winter—a necessary prelude to trying to end it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the meantime the dimensions of Arthur Pendragon’s tragedy were beginning to take shape as it became clear (to Brendel of the lios alfar, first of everyone) who Jennifer Lowell really was: Guinevere, beloved of Arthur and of Lancelot. Marred by her suffering in Starkadh, Jennifer withdrew to the sanctuary of Dana with Jaelle. It was Jaelle who explained that Vae and Finn had taken Darien (who was growing with the unnatural rapidity of all the andain—children of mortals and gods) to Ysanne’s cottage by the lake. There, Darien, seeming now to be a child of five years old, was growing up in the loving care of his foster mother and brother, who were troubled by two things: a power which caused his blue eyes to flash red, and an awareness that the child was drawn by voices in the storms of winter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn the Plain the Dalrei were hard-pressed. The winter had rendered the graceful eltor—the creatures the Dalrei hunted and depended upon—awkward and ungainly in the snow, which made them easy prey for Galadan’s wolves. Ivor—now Aven, or “Father” of all the Dalrei—had herded the eltor down to the southeastern corner of the vast Plain, and there the gathered tribes guarded them as best they could. Until one attack included great numbers of the hideous urgach mounted upon six-legged monsters called slaug. Only the intervention of Diarmuid of Brennin, with Dave and Kevin in his company, saved the Dalrei from the first wave of the mounted urgach. And only the appearance of Ivor’s son Tabor, riding Imraith-Nimphais, his deadly, winged mount with the shining horn, saved them from the second, larger wave. Ivor was painfully aware of the effect such flight had on Tabor, drawing him ever farther from the world of men.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShortly after, back in Brennin, another new strand entered the Tapestry. At the urging of Levon, Ivor’s older son—and having the reluctant agreement of Loren—Kim and Dave, the bearers of what Levon thought to be the elements of an ancient verse that spoke of the waking of the Wild Hunt, went with a number of companions to the place at the edge of Pendaran Wood where the Cave of the Sleepers lay. The Baelrath shattered the stone at the cave mouth and then Dave’s horn summoned forth Owein and the seven kings of the Hunt. With the shadowy sky kings wailing “Where is the child?” a child did, indeed, step forth to become one of the Wild Hunt: it was Finn, and this was the Longest Road to which he had been called.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost of the company, including Shalhassan the Supreme Lord of Cathal, and Sharra, his daughter, who had arrived from the south with reinforcements, made their way the next morning to Gwen Ystrat, the province of the Goddess; partly to meet Gereint, the shaman, there, partly in response to a report from Audiart, Jaelle’s second in command, that the province was being beset by wolves. The company was led by the grey dog that had saved Paul on the Summer Tree, and who turned out to be Cavall, Arthur’s hunting dog. They passed into the province of the Mother amid ice and snow on the day before Maidaladan—Midsummer’s Eve—with all the ancient, erotic, blood magic such a night implied. That evening, with the aid of the other magic wielders, Kim descended into the designs of Maugrim and found a clue that enabled Loren to deduce that the winter was being shaped by Metran, the treacherous mage, using the Cauldron of Khath Meigol, and basing himself on the unholy island of Cader Sedat. Kim herself would have died in her quest, had she not been saved by an unexpected source: Ruana of the Paraiko, one of the Giants, the people who had shaped the Cauldron in the first place. They were a race long thought to be dead and haunting the mountain passes with their “blood curse.” Ruana reached Kim telepathically and told her that his people were alive but were slowly being put to death—bloodlessly—by the urgach and svart alfar.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe next day, during the wolf hunt, Kevin—who had been feeling useless through all the combats—had nearly fatal injury added to insult when he was gored by a white boar. He was saved by the healing magic of the mages, but this last symbolic portent finally brought home to him what his own fate and task were to be. Amid the unbridled eroticism of Midsummer’s Eve in Gwen Ystrat (on a night when Prince Diarmuid told Sharra of Cathal that he loved her), Kevin slipped away alone to the east and, guided by Cavall in the snow, came to the cave of Dun Maura where he sacrificed his life to the Goddess, that she might intercede and break the winter—thus enabling the others to sail to Cader Sedat and battle with Metran.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the meantime, Paul had remained behind with Vae and Darien. Earlier that same day he had taken Darien to the Summer Tree. His plan was to summon Cernan, the stag-horned god of the forests (and Galadan’s father) to help accelerate Darien’s progression to his maturity—a maturity desperately needed, for the ambivalent child was growing steadily in power. As it happened, Darien needed no such aid in an oak grove on Midsummer’s Eve. He propelled himself forward in years to much the same age as his brother Finn had been before he left. Having overheard Cernan ask Paul why the child had even been allowed to live, Darien departed, vowing to seek out his father, Rakoth Maugrim.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot long after, it was decided that Diarmuid’s men, with Loren and Arthur and Paul, would sail for Cader Sedat. Kimberly had remained in the east, with only Brock the Dwarf as her companion on a journey to the mountain pass where the Paraiko were being slain. The two of them had scarcely entered the mountains, however, when they were attacked and captured by a band of brigands.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith Kevin’s sacrifice ending the winter, war became a reality. From the borders of Daniloth, the Shadowland, where dwelt the lios alfar, an army of the Dark was seen sweeping south toward the Plain. Ra-Tenniel, Lord of the lios alfar, sent warning to the Dalrei. In response, Ivor led his whole army—save for Tabor, left behind to guard the camp—in a wild, full-tilt ride across half the length of the Plain to meet the enemy by the banks of the Adein River. The battle that followed was on the verge of being lost—despite the appearance of Ra-Tenniel and the lios alfar—when Dave Martyniuk sounded Owein’s Horn to summon the Wild Hunt. The kings of the Hunt, led by the child who had once been Finn, began slaughtering the forces of the Dark—and then, without discrimination, those of the Light as well. They were only diverted from their kill by the intercession of the goddess Ceinwen. Much later, Dave awoke in the darkness on the mount beneath which Ceinwen had gathered the dead, and she made love with him on the grass that night.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBack in Brennin, on the morning before the voyage to Cader Sedat, Jennifer emerged from the Temple at the urging of Matt Sören. For the space of a single day she was reunited with Arthur. Then, after the ship sailed she set out in turn, with only Brendel of the lios alfar to accompany her, to watch for its return from the Anor Lisen: the Tower at the westernmost edge of Pendaran Wood where Lisen, a thousand years ago, had waited for Amairgen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt sea, the ship \u003ci\u003ePrydwen\u003c\/i\u003e was attacked by a monstrous creature, the Soulmonger of Maugrim. Amid the sound of unearthly music, Loren and Matt defended the ship while Paul desperately sought the power to summon Liranan, the god of the sea, to battle the monster. At the last instant he was reached by Gereint the shaman, who had sent his soul traveling out to sea in search of Paul to give him the aid that would make the summoning possible. Thus compelled, the sea god came and drove the monster into the deeps, killing it—but not before Diarmuid had leaped to the Soulmonger’s enormous head and plucked the white staff of Amairgen Whitebranch from where it was embedded between its eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd so two tragic mysteries were made clear. Amairgen, who had disappeared after sailing for Cader Sedat a thousand years ago, had evidently been slain by this creature. Even worse, the music they had heard was the glorious singing of all the lios alfar who had set sail west toward the hidden island the Weaver had shaped for them alone. Not one of them had reached it in a thousand years; all had been slain in this place.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith Arthur’s guidance and Loren’s power the ship came to Cader Sedat. There they discovered that Metran had been using his mage’s power, augmented by the Cauldron, to shape a death rain over the eastern land of Eridu and was preparing to bring the rain westward over the mountains. On that island a titanic mages’ battle was fought by Loren and Matt against Metran, who was sourced in the power of a myriad of svart alfar who—drained to death by the power he sucked from them—were being revived by the Cauldron of Khath Meigol. In the end Loren prevailed, killing Metran and shattering the Cauldron, but only by drawing upon a depth of power that also killed his source, Matt Sören.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the aftermath of that duel, Paul and Diarmuid followed Arthur into the Chamber of the Dead beneath Cader Sedat. There they watched the Warrior wake Lancelot du Lac from his bed of stone to join in the war against the Dark. And so all three members of that triangle were now in Fionavar. Back in the shattered Hall of Cader Sedat, Lancelot’s first action was to use his own particular gifts (exercised once before, in Camelot) to bring Matt Sören back to life. Unfortunately, during the brief time that Matt had lain lifeless, the bond of mage and source had been irrevocably broken, and Loren Silvercloak had lost his magical powers. \u003ci\u003eThe Wandering Fire\u003c\/i\u003e ended as the company prepared to leave the island and sail back to war.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Five\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKIMBERLY FORD, Seer of Brennin\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJENNIFER LOWELL, who is also GUINEVERE\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDAVE MARTYNIUK (“Davor”)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePAUL SCHAFER, Lord of the Summer Tree (“Pwyll Twiceborn”)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKEVIN LAINE (“Liadon”), the sacrifice come freely on Midsummer’s Eve\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom Brennin\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAILERON, High King of Brennin\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDIARMUID, his brother\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLOREN SILVERCLOAK, once First Mage of Brennin\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMATT SÖREN, once his source: King of the Dwarves\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTEYRNON, a mage\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBARAK, his source\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJAELLE, High Priestess of the Goddess\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAUDIART, her second in command, in the province of Gwen Ystrat\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLEILA, a young priestess, mind-linked to Finn dan Shahar\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSHIEL, a priestess in Paras Derval\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCOLL of Taerlindel, lieutenant to Diarmuid, captain of the ship PRYDWEN\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGORLAES, Chancellor of Brennin\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMABON, Duke of Rhoden\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNIAVIN, Duke of Seresh\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVAE, a craftswoman in Paras Derval\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSHAHAR, her husband\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFINN, their son, now riding with the Wild Hunt upon ISELEN\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDARIEN, their foster child, son of Jennifer Lowell and Rakoth Maugrim\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBRENDEL, a lord of the lios alfar, from Daniloth\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBROCK, a Dwarf, from Banir Tal\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom Cathal\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSHALHASSAN, Supreme Lord of Cathal\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSHARRA, his daughter and heir (“the Dark Rose”); betrothed to Diarmuid\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom the Plain\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIVOR, Aven of the Plain, Chieftain of the third tribe of the Dalrei\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLEITH, his wife\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLEVON, his older son\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCORDELIANE (“LIANE”), his daughter\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTABOR, his younger son, rider of IMRAITHNIMPHAIS\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTORC, a Rider of the third tribe\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGEREINT, shaman of the third tribe\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom Daniloth\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRA-TENNIEL, Lord of the lios alfar\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLEYSE of the Swan Mark\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIn the Mountains\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDALREIDAN, an exile from the Plain\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFAEBUR of Larak, exiled from Eridu\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCERIOG, leader of the mountain outlaws\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRUANA of the Paraiko, in the caves of Khath Meigol\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMIACH, First of the Dwarfmoot, in Banir Lök\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Dark\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRAKOTH MAUGRIM the UNRAVELLER\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGALADAN, Wolflord of the andain, his lieutenant\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUATHACH, the urgach in white, commander of the army of Maugrim\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFORDAETHA OF RÜK, Ice Queen of the Barrens\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAVAIA, the Black Swan\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBLÖD, a Dwarf, servant to Rakoth\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKAEN, brother to Blöd, ruling the Dwarves in Banir Lök\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Powers\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTHE WEAVER at the Loom\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMÖRNIR of the Thunder\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDANA, the Mother\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCERNAN of the Beasts\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCEINWEN of the Bow, the HUNTRESS\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLIRANAN, god of the sea\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOWEIN, Lord of the Wild Hunt, rider of CARGAIL\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFLIDAIS (“Taliesin”) of the andain, a power of Pendaran Wood\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCURDARDH, The Oldest One, guardian of Pendaran’s sacred grove\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom the Past\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eARTHUR PENDRAGON, the Warrior, with CAVALL, his dog\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLANCELOT du LAC, from the Chamber of the Dead in Cader Sedat\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIORWETH FOUNDER, first High King of Brennin\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCONARY, High King during the Bael Rangat\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCOLAN, his son, High King after him (“the Beloved”)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAMAIRGEN WHITEBRANCH, first of the mages; slain by the Soulmonger\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLISEN of the Wood, a deiena, source and wife to Amairgen\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRA-TERMAINE, greatest of the Lords of the lios alfar; slain by Galadan in the Bael Rangat\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRA-LATHEN (“Lathen Mistweaver”), his successor, who shaped the mists that made Daniloth into the Shadowland\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLAURIEL, the White Swan, slain by Avaia in the Bael Rangat\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eREVOR, ancestral hero of the Dalrei; first Aven of the Plain\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSEITHR, King of the Dwarves during the Bael Rangat\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCONNLA, mightiest of the Paraiko, who bound the Wild Hunt and forged the Cauldron of Khath Meigol\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePART I\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Last Kanior\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChapter 1\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Do you know the wish of your heart?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOnce, when Kim Ford was an undergraduate, young for university and young for her age, someone had asked her that question over cappuccino on a first date. She’d been very impressed. Later, rather less young, she’d often smiled at the memory of how close he’d come to getting her into bed on the strength of a good line and a way with waiters in a chic restaurant. The question, though, had stayed with her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd now, not so much older but white-haired nonetheless, and as far away from home as she could imagine being, Kim had an answer to that question.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe wish of her heart was that the bearded man standing over her, with the green tattoos on his forehead and cheeks, should die an immediate and painful death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHer side ached where he had kicked her, and every shallow breath was a lancing pain. Crumpled beside her, blood seeping from the side of his head, lay Brock of Banir Tal. From where Kim lay she couldn’t tell if the Dwarf was alive or not, and if she could have killed in that moment, the tattooed man would be dead. Through a haze of pain she looked around. There were about fifty men surrounding them on the high plateau, and most of them bore the green tattoos of Eridu. Glancing down at her own hand she saw that the Baelrath lay quiescent, no more than a red stone set in a ring. No power for her to draw upon, no access to her desire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt didn’t really surprise her. The Warstone had never, from the first, brought anything but pain with its power, and how could it have been otherwise?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Do you know,” the bearded Eridun above her said, with harsh mockery, “what the Dalrei have done down below?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“What? What have they done, Ceriog?” another man asked, moving forward a little from the circle of men. He was older than most of them, Kim saw. There was grey in his dark hair, and he bore no sign of the green tattoo markings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I \u003ci\u003ethought\u003c\/i\u003e you might be interested,” the one named Ceriog said, and laughed. There was something wild in the sound, very near to pain. Kim tried not to hear it, but she was a Seer more than she was anything else, and a premonition\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48338550685925,"sku":"NP9780451458339","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780451458339.jpg?v=1769572651","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-darkest-road-isbn-9780451458339","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}