Synopsis: A Blade In The Storm

A lifetime of travel, enforcement and combat in service as a Rogar-mahn, one of the Zantaria’s Ranger / Diplomats and Guardians of the Land, have earned Caeron Coldlake an unequaled reputation as a woodsman, a sword master, and a champion of the King. But now the kingdom is under siege by a power so vast and ancient that it is altering the very weather patterns across the continent. Winter is stretching into spring and famine threatens the land.

But just when he thinks the kingdom needs him the most, Caeron is retired—taken out of active service by the King, who has decided that his senior Rogar-mahn is too valuable to lose and is getting too old for the rigors of a life in the field. No discussion on the matter is allowed. Enraged, Caeron storms from Castle Ramarok, the seat of the kingdom, only to find that there is a high price for fame as the King’s Champion. Raiders have taken his daughter and assaulted his wife. The raid is executed too swiftly, and with too much organization for it to have been mere brigands.

Enraged to the point of forgetting the lessons which have turned him into one of the best soldiers in the land, Caeron rushes into pursuit of the raiders, only to be ambushed and left for dead, a disaster that costs him more than he could have imagined and almost more than he can bear, for his mistakes result in the death of someone who means the world to him.

Physically torn and emotionally destroyed by his own guilt, his life in tatters and his confidence destroyed, Caeron must return to the King to beg one last mission: revenge against the raiders. When it turns out that the raiders are affiliated with the same force that’s manipulating the kingdom’s weather, the King has no choice but to accede to Caeron’s wishes. Caeron must leave immediately to scout the threat to the empire while the King begins marshalling his forces for the confrontation that must inevitably come.

However, Caeron must bear one final insult; the King, with good intentions, forces him to accept the assistance of a young Zorelei priestess—a lady who, like Caeron, is a guardian of the land but who has nowhere near Caeron’s experience. Caeron’s protests fall on deaf ears and he begins his journey under the very real fear that he will be leading a companion into dangers she won’t have the skill to survive. Already too much sorrow and too much guilt ride Caeron’s dreams; the possibility of more is beyond his ability to accept.

Caeron’s pursuit takes them across the continent to the ancient mountain stronghold of Sarik-duva. On the way, he must relearn the control which contributed to his fame as a Rogar-mahn, and discover that no man can achieve alone challenges scaled large enough to sway empires. He must learn that friends and teamwork are the supports and tools that enable men to become great, and in being great, achieve miraculous things. Only then might he have a chance to rescue his daughter, if she still survives.