Stand Alone Titles

Title: Take a Thief Author: Mercedes Lackey Publisher: DAW Books, USA Date of Publication: 2002 Details: Paperback, 438 pages ISBN: 0756400589

Back Cover Teaser:
Skif was an orphan. For as long as he could remember he had worked as a drudge in his Uncle Londer's dreary inn in the slums of Haven. Sleeping on a pile of rags under the stairs, wakened before dawn to do the lowliest and filthiest of tasks, Skif would have died from malnutrition and exposure if he had never met Deek. Deek was a pickpocket, the oldest member of a group of young boys who, with the guidance of their teacher and leader, a crippled man named Bazie, survived by their wits and their nimble fingers. But Bazie was more than just the head of a band of young thieves - Bazie cared about the boys. Uncle Londer barely cared whether Skif was alive or dead. It was an easy decision for Skif to abandon his former life and throw in his lot with Bazie's crew. By the time Skif was twelve, he was an accomplished cat burglar and one of the leaders of Bazie's gang. Light on his feet, silent as a ghost, small enough to slide between protective window bars, his "take" had evolved from silk hankies slipped from laundries and pockets to gold and silver jewelry stolen from "hidden" cupboards in affluent houses. But it wasn't until Skif decided to steal a finely tacked-out white horse, which was, oddly enough, standing unattended in the street, that this young thief discovered that the tables could turn on him...

Title: Brightly Burning Author: Mercedes Lackey Publisher: DAW Books Date of Publication: 2001 Details: Hardback, 416 pages ISBN: 0575072008

Back Cover Teaser:
Lavan Chitward is a very unhappy young man; pulled away from his country home by his parents' ambitions and resettled in the city of Haven, he is desperately lonely, bullied and beaten at school, ignored by his parents. It is not surprising that he falls ill - but his illness is the first manifestation of a terrible power, the Gift of the Firestorm, a power which can and does kill. If controlled, the Gift of the Firestorm can save Valdemar, but if it is uncontrolled, it will destroy the country - and him. Chosen by the Companion Kalira, brought into the ranks of the Heralds of Valdemar, Lavan finds acceptance and hope for the first time - but war with Karse threatens to engulf the Kingdom and only Lavan Firestorm stands between Valdemar and destruction - and only then if he can harness his dreadful power to his will.

Title: By the Sword Author: Mercedes Lackey Publisher: DAW Books Date of Publication: 1991 Details: Paperback, 496 pages ISBN: 0886774632

Back Cover Teaser:
Granddaughter of the sorceress Kethry, daughter of a noble house, Kerowyn had been forced to run the family keep since her mother's untimely death. Yet now at last her brother was preparing to wed, and when his bride became the lady of the keep, Kerowyn could return to her true enjoyments - training horses and hunting. But all Kerowyn's hopes and plans were shattered when her ancestral home was attacked, her father slain, her brother wounded, and his fiancee kidnapped. Driven by desperation and the knowledge that a sorcerer had led the journey, Kerowyn sought her grandmother Kethry's aid, a journey which would prove but the first step on the road to the fulfillment of her destiny. For facing her family's foes would transform Kerowyn into an outsider in her own land, a warrior bound to the spell blade, Need, and a mercenary forced to choose between loyalty to her comrades in arms and the Herald of Valdemar, whom she had rescued and who in turn had helped to awaken her to the true meaning of love and to her own unique powers of magic.