BLURB

      Three Tari Sisters estranged from the Society they are destined to save.

      Elena, more beautiful than any man can resist, is kidnapped, her destiny controlled by the men who desire her.

      Yani, warrior woman, brave, strong, able to pass as a man, who will do anything to find Elena.

      Marigoth, powerful female mage, determined to never grow up, equally determined to find her missing sister

      In a country oppressed and cruelly ruled, the fate of many people lies in the unsuspecting hands of these three women.

      Prologue

      Three children born of life force

       A bridge from death to life,

       from imbalance to harmony.

       The warbird flies at their command

       to rein in the people of the dragon.

       A demon fire that burns toward Ermora

       Yields to their quenching

       A melded child of their making

       is born to rule the dragon

       To bring harmony in clasped hands.

      With bloodied hands, Mathinna pushed aside the stones and pulled herself out of the smoking rubble of Asgor's fallen fortress. Nearby she saw the charred and twisted body of the dead Demonmaster and felt a shameful, unclean glow of pleasure.

      My son, you are avenged, she thought.

      To kill must always be wrong, but she was still glad she had disposed of that cursed man.

      But Asgor's death could not bring back Garroway. The Demonmaster had fed her son's life spirit to a demon and it had gone into the Abyss. Garroway was utterly destroyed. Mathinna's triumph darkened.

      The Demonmaster's fortress had stood above the city of Olbia. On the headland opposite loomed the Tower of Olbia, where Gorice, High Chieftain of the united Seagani tribes - may his name be cursed forever - would now be cowering with his court. It was he who had called for Tari assistance against Asgor, and he who had trapped Garroway and his two companions and handed them over to his supposed enemy.

      As Mathinna sat upon a huge, tumbled stone block to catch her breath, she noticed two familiar Tari figures climbing the headland below her: her daughter-in-law, Shara, accompanied by her horrible brother, Jagamar, who'd never done a useful thing in his life.

      Mathinna watched Jagamar squeeze Shara's shoulder as he spoke to her. Shara nodded once, raised her clasped hands and pointed them at the Tower of Olbia.

      Mathinna felt, rather than saw, the bolt of magic that shot from Shara's hands. She watched it hit the cliff beneath the tower with a deep thud. There was a cracking noise and small rocks fell. Then, with a horrible groan the tower and the houses and the rock beneath them began to slide.

      'No!' Mathinna screamed. She tried to summon the power to stop the collapse, but she had no strength left after her battle.

      The entire cliff face and the tower plunged into the sea with a roaring crash. A monster wave was thrown up, smashing against the remaining headland and washing over the beach beneath, pounding boats and little huts to kindling, then crashing over Olbia's walls.

      Mathinna was frozen with horror. She could feel the screaming terror of the people within the tower, the houses below and in the boats. She could feel the balance of nature tipping as if a jagged piece of night had suddenly ripped through the curtain of day. The devastation made her so dizzy that she fell sideways to the ground.

      The moment her sickness passed she thought of Shara. What had she done? What would happen to her, and to Garroway's baby within her womb? When a Tari killed, they were forced to experience their victim's death.

      Shara was convulsing on the ground. Jagamar stood uselessly over her, hands on his face. The baby! The last reminder of her son Garroway - what if it were lost? Mathinna threw herself down beside Shara.

      The young woman was choking and clawing at the air. Suddenly, with a terrified gasp, she went limp. Then she began convulsing and pawing at the air again. There was nothing Mathinna could do for her but let things run their course.

      'What's happening?' Jagamar cried, grabbing Mathinna's arm.

      'Let me go, you fool. What did you think you were doing? Now she must suffer every death she has caused,'

      'It wasn't enough to put Gorice in the Spirit Cave. He killed three Tari, the dirty outlander,' Jagamar shouted. 'Death is the only thing… '

      'How can you understand so little of the life spirit? He would have suffered as she will suffer now. She will feel every single death she caused. One by one!' Mathinna put her hand on Shara's belly and, using what felt like the last of her strength, tried to calm the unborn child and bind it within.

      'One by one,' echoed Jagamar in a horrified voice. 'We didn't realise it would be one by one.'

      'Your ignorance never ceases to amaze me' Mathinna snarled. Calming the unborn child was hard when she was so angry herself. 'How could you? The two of you must have killed over a hundred people!'

      'They deserved to die. They stood by while… '

      'What? Servants, children, fishermen? Prisoners in the dungeons? What say did they have in the madness of their leader? What kind of Tari are you?'

      Shara collapsed limply again, leaving Mathinna free to look up. As she did so she saw something glittering on the ground. She snatched it up. It was a blue crystal - a Mirayan power crystal.

      'This is yours, isn't it, Jagamar? What's this for?'

      'Shara wanted it to focus her power. She asked me for the crystal and I gave it to her.'

      'And you came along to see that she went through with it. You vicious horror! You're the one who hates outlanders, not her. This was your idea, wasn't it?'

      Jagamar looked scared. 'No! I came along to support her. You saw. She's the one who did it. I did nothing wrong. How could I have stopped her? You know I've got very little power.'

      'She could never have forged such destruction without this thing.' Mathinna waved the power crystal at him.

      Shara began to struggle and choke again. Mathinna turned back to her. Jagamar lunged forward and grabbed the power crystal out of Mathinna's hand. She was too caught up with Shara's child to stop him. Then he was gone, running away over the headland to the Circle of Power that would take him back to Ermora. Mathinna was left to struggle with Shara's continuing death and her unborn child until other Tari came to help.

      For a full night and a day after those terrible events, Shara suffered the experience of her victims' deaths. Afterwards, all she could do was stare numbly into space. She had never been strong-minded and all the suffering she had caused had broken her.

      The Guardians took her into the Spirit Cave in the hope of repairing her mind. Friends urged Mathinna to seek the relief of unbeing as well. But Mathinna wanted to grieve. She felt her son deserved the sacrifice and she found a strange comfort in making it.

      An enquiry into the destruction of Olbia was held, but Shara was not fit to testify and the council was dominated by her father, a man who put family honour before the life spirit. Shara's actions were pronounced justified madness and Jagamar was completely acquitted. It was a popular verdict even though many were shocked by it. Violence could never be justified for those who truly loved the life spirit, even in the case of revenge.

      When Shara came out of the Spirit Cave, the darkness