Avaryan Rising Author:Judith Tarr He appears out of nowhere, a small young man wearing the golden torque of a priest of the Sun. His name is Mirain, and he bears news that dares the listeners to disbelieve. Sanelin Amalin is dead. The heir whom the King of Hanlanon had long ago consecrated to the Sun God and sent on her seven years' journey toward priestesshood is gone...the dau... more »ghter for whose return the King, even after 20 years, still mounts his daily vigil will never return.
But the stranger's tale does not end there.
Sanelin had a son, the young man says, though she was sworn to celibacy as a priestess. No, he assures his listeners, she had not broken her vows. The son she bore was fathered by Avaryan, the Sun God. And Mirain himself, this priest who is still just a boy, is that son--the rightful heir to the kingdom.
Of course, political matters are never so simple. There is another heir, son of Lady Odiya, the King's concubine. From birth, the dark, manly Prince Moranden has been groomed for the throne--a great warrior, a favorite of the people, the very image of all that is royal.
Impelled by destiny, Mirain and Moranden speed toward a duel that will determine the fate of their kingdom. A conflict that will ultimately draw many others to glory and disaster--some of them fighting for the Sun and some for the Dark.
Among them will come the fiery woman warrior Elian of Han-Gilen, Mirain's foster sister. In fleeing the love of the handsome High Prince Ziad-Ilarios to join Mirain in battle, she will fulfill a childhood vow...and become the crucial fulcrum in the battle between Sun and Dark.
And there will be sons to continue the fight: Mirain's mage-born son, Sarevan; and Hirel, Ziad-Ilario's heir--hated and plotted against by his rival half-brothers. Through them the final act of the drama will be worked--Light and Darkness will come together in a flash of sorcery and violence...to resolve themselves in a manner that no one had planned, and which will overthrow, all that they thought they knew.
Includes the Hall of the Mountain King, The Lady of Han-Gilen and A fall of Princes.« less