Showing results for "Brand" in Action & Adventure

Mankind has lorded over the land of Illian for a thousand years, building on the ruins left by the elves, as if it were their birthright. A thousand years is a long time for an immortal race to see the truth of things, a truth that has remained unsaid for a millennium—elves are superior. They are faster, stronger, and connected to the magical realm in a way that man could never grasp. Illian should belong to them.

The final days of hope have come and gone. The kingdoms of Illian stand on the edge of ruin, threatened by the armies of Valanis. As evil spreads across the land, too few are left to hold the line. A world away, the children of fire and flame may be the only hope for the realm, but the dragons have been defeated before. Now Verda's future hangs in the balance.

Millennia in the dark has left these lost and forgotten monsters hungry for war. The people of Illian can do nothing but rely on their peacekeepers, the Dragorn. Are the dragon riders ready for what has been buried under their feet? Gideon Thorn, Master of the Dragorn, can feel the Third Age coming to an ominous end. With Inara Galfrey and her dragon by his side, they must investigate the return of this ancient evil.

Dragons Riders: The last noble warriors in the realm. Only heroes can embolden the ordinary. For centuries, millennia, the Dragon Riders galvanized generation after generation, adding Riders to their ranks and birthing dragons from their eggs. But there are no more heroes. War with the Andarens is like nothing the Riders, nor the armies of Erador, have ever faced. In the place of heroes, there are only soldiers now. Fodder for the machine of war. This time of twilight is set to be the crowning hour of the dark when the light is losing its grip.

Orcs, an ancient fiend thought lost to history, have risen from The Under Realm. Their hunger for total dominance has plunged Illian into war, pushing the survivors to Namdhor, the last refuge of man at the top of the world. For those who stand up to this foe, they do so in darkness. Ash clouds smother the skies, blocking out the sun as the orcs rampage across the land.

The scales have tipped. The battle for Namdhor, the north, and the entire realm of man was a sure victory for the orcs. But they lost. Now, under the rule of a would-be-king, the armies of man fuel the war when they should be bolstering their defenses. Only a few understand that time is against them, yet these few must fight alone if the dawn is to rise over Illian once more. The heroes of the realm have banded together, but they cannot fight side by side. There is only one way they can win, seen by the oldest dragon and preserved inside the broken mind of a ranger.

Turned from the path of the assassin, Asher roams the world no better than a nomad, with naught to offer but his sword and grit. But woe betide the monster that believes his sword and grit will not be enough. In a twisted chance of fate, the brash actions of Doran Heavybelly—a dwarven hunter with a lot to say—forces Asher back into the world of man. And so the ranger is brought into the light, into the gaze of Illian’s greatest crime guilds and onto the lawless island of Dragorn.

A new world is beginning to take shape in the aftermath of The Fated War, a world that must be brought together if it is to survive. As the king and queen of Illian, it falls on Vighon and Inara Draqaro to forge this future. As they did during the war, they have allies—old friends—to call upon, heroes all who fought and bled for Verda's fragile era of peace. Among those allies are the likes of a ranger and a dragon.

The When Swords Fall Silent anthology showcases the imaginations and talents of more than a dozen of the best modern science-fiction and fantasy authors, with each tale centered around one or more characters burdened with a bloody task they will see to completion no matter the cost. Every story takes you for a vicious ride through a world of shadow and death, each as unique in perspective and execution as the contracts carried out within.

Gravely wounded after his duel with the deadly ranger Kyber, Eli awakens in a hidden refuge deep within the winter-bound forest. He has survived—but survival has come at a terrible price. Shadows haunt his every waking moment, and in his dreams, ancient eyes watch and wait. The bond with his cursed sword, Memory, grows stronger, hungrier… and Eli fears the weapon may demand more than he can give. As he struggles to heal, Eli finds solace in the unwavering devotion of his wife, Mae. Yet even their stolen moments of peace cannot last.

Captain Ben Stiger never asked for this assignment—transport a chest of imperial gold and a letter from the emperor across the sea to a volatile foreign kingdom and secure a vital alliance, or at least buy their neutrality. But duty is rarely a matter of choice. With only the enigmatic elven ranger Eli at his side, Stiger sets sail for the Kingdom of Thresh.

It is 200 years since the deity known as the Absolved went mad and destroyed the Kingdom of Alnachim, transforming it into the Execration, a blasted wasteland filled with nameless terrors. For decades, desperate souls have made pilgrimage to the centre of this cursed land to seek the Mad God’s favour, their fate always unknown. Now a veteran warrior known only as Pilgrim, armed with a fabled blade inhabited by the soul of a taunting demon, must join with six others to make the last journey to the heart of the Execration.

Elyon and Saska have been reunited at last—now the hard work begins. Training as they travel, they must put aside their desire in the face of their duty. The heir of Varin has one blade only. One of five. And the others are moving. Trapped in the depths of the earth, Jonik must find his way out to salvation. He is not alone. Pursued by a horde of hungry creatures, he has only the light of Vandar to protect him. A light and a power that might just awaken something else. Something ancient… and colossal.

Valkeris–most ancient of cities and seat of the fallen empire that once ruled the vastness of the five seas. Here the Infernus Gate will rise and unleash destruction upon the world, unless the bearers of the demon cursed blades can stop it...

Like a dark tide, the Horde is slowly conquering one nation after another, and a great migration of peoples has begun fleeing westward before the enemy's advancing armies. No one has been able to stand against the might of the Horde. But the Horde has never faced the power of a Roman legion. Cast adrift in this strange, fantastical world, so unlike the one he knew, Karus has been given a number of tasks by his god Jupiter, known in this world as the High Father. Karus's holy mission and mandate: retrieve a dread artifact and form an alliance with the peoples of this world.

To defeat the evil of the Seven Swords, Ridmark must learn the secrets of their making. But the creator of the Swords is imprisoned within the dungeons of Urd Maelwyn, once the stronghold of the dark elven tyrant called the Sovereign. And those who enter the dungeons of Urd Maelwyn never return. To find a way to destroy the Swords, Ridmark enters the Durance of Urd Maelwyn, a twisted dungeon built by a dark elven tyrant. There, he must find the mad smith who forged the Swords. But the ruler of the Durance does not let prisoners escape her iron grasp....

The quest of the Seven Swords has freed the shadows to prey upon mankind. Ridmark has learned that the sorceress Cathala holds the secret of the Seven Swords and quests to free her from the grasp of an imprisoning spell. But the Maledicti priests know of Ridmark's quest and plot to stop him with a deadly new weapon. Ridmark and his companions find themselves caught in the war between the final remnant of the dying gray elves and the brutal muridach horde. Unless Ridmark can save the gray elves, he and his friends will die, and the New God will rise in power to enslave the world.

Ridmark Arban is the Shield Knight, the only Swordbearer in the realm of Owyllain. He is allied with the noble King Hektor Pendragon, who fights to reunify the Seven Swords and to end the destructive war they have unleashed. But the tyrannical King Justin Cyros is marching to war against Hektor, and King Justin knows the secret of the malevolent New God, a secret that will kill everyone in Owyllain. Meanwhile, the Necromancer of Trojas wields the Sword of Death, and with it he has summoned a vast host of the undead.

After a long and terrible war, the realm of Andomhaim is at peace. But dark powers threaten other lands. Ridmark Arban, the Shield Knight and defender of Andomhaim, finds himself fighting for his life, and for the lives of his family, when a mad elven wizard comes to the High King's court. For the quest of the Seven Swords has begun. And the quest will kill anyone foolish enough to seek its secret.

Ben Stiger, Legate of the Lost Thirteenth Legion, a nobleman from an infamous family and born fighter, has defeated the servants of the evil god Castor and crushed the dark deity's orc-led army. Having repaired the damage wrought by Castor and fixed the timeline, Stiger has returned to the present, bringing with him the entire Thirteenth Legion and her auxiliary cohorts.