Synopsis
There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani Empire: a plague
that marks each victim with a fragment of a greater design. Geometric
patterns spread across the skin, until the victim dies in agony or
becomes a Carrier, doing the bidding of an evil intelligence.
The
lost prince Sarmin, the emperor's only surviving brother, lies locked
in a hidden room. As the pattern draws closer to the palace he is at
last remembered: now he awaits a bride, Mesema, a Windreader from the
northern plains. She is accustomed to riding free across the grasslands
and finds the Imperial Court stifling, but she soon realizes the
politicking is not a game. It is in deadly earnest.
Eyul, the
imperial assassin, is burdened by the atrocities he has committed. As
commanded, he bears the emperor's Knife to the desert in search of a
cure for the pattern-markings.
As long-planned conspiracies boil
over into open violence, the enemy moves towards victory. Now only three
people stand in his way: a lost prince, a world-weary killer, and a
young girl from the steppes who saw a path in a pattern once, among the
waving grasses.
About the Author
Mazarkis Williams read modern history at university and has worked as an editor, copyeditor, and graphic designer, and has been in the same tabletop role-playing game for fifteen years.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.