Cirrus@Austlit

'In the isolated traders’ town of Greystone, two young thieves named Wilt and Higgs scratch out a living on the street. Both have quick minds and even quicker fingers, but Wilt has another weapon: an ability to sink into others’ thoughts, reading them, knowing before they do what action they will take.

'Such power is not easily hidden when the Prefects of Redmondis come through town on a pilgrimage to recruit skilled ones, wielders, those who have an affinity with the secret welds that join all living things.

'For a shadow is spreading across the land, a strange dark power that uses its victims’ fears to drive into their minds and suck their life away. The Nine Sisters of Redmondis sense this threat, and have a prophecy that one will come, one who understands and controls the power of the blood within the stone. One they hope to rule and use for their own ends.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Despite the victory over Cantor Cortis, the dark power still spreads. Nightmare creatures are wiping out villages all along the southern edge of the wild Tangle forest, causing a stream of refugees to flow into the capital of Sontair in the hope of finding protection.

'All who helped overthrow the Nine Sisters of Redmondis have been touched by what they experienced and those they lost. Dark visions sap Petron and Daemi’s strength even as they try to heal the rifts within Redmondis and forge a new path for the wielders, crafters and guards who make up its three main schools.

'Wilt must enter the Tangle to seek out the source of the power that calls to him. Visions of the past seen through other eyes haunt his days, and he finds it harder and harder to resist the pull of his wraith form.

'The Guardian is old and weak, and the Tangle is no longer secure…'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The cycle of fate turns on.

'In the capital of Sontair, still reeling from the recent assassination, Daemi, Frankle and Heather are helping as best they can to retain some semblance of order and control. With them is Wilt, trapped now in cat form, but still connected to Daemi through their shared mind, enabling her to identify and hunt down those servants of the dark that still infest the city.

'Far to the east, in the mysterious mountain prison of Pankesh, Higgs has been called back from the wash of the welds and returned to his human body. He finds himself under the control of the Novus, the source of the spreading darkness. The Novus uses weldfarers – those who can ride the welds – to alter events across time, and has been tracking Wilt and Higgs ever since their days in Greystone.

'As the Novus gathers his forces and reaches through time and space to twist the world to his bidding the companions must journey across the Eternal Sea to finally confront the dark and face their fate.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.