Alberich's Tale

Title: Exile's Honor Author:Mercedes Lackey Publisher: DAW Books Date of Publication: 2002 Details: Paperback, 432 pages ISBN: 0756401135

Back Cover Teaser
Training The Enemy - Alberich had spent most of his youth in the Karsite military schools training to be an officer. As the son of an impoverished mother, he had no other career choice open to him. And Alberich had risen in the ranks with almost unnatural speed. He developed expertise with many weapons and excelled in academic subjects with an ease that was the envy of his classmates. But, in fact, the reclusive Alberich studied long and hard, pushing himself ruthlessly. In battle, Alberich had always had a sort of "sixth sense" about things which were about to happen - when and from where the enemy would attack. Instintively, he hid this ability, for the sunpriests kept careful for anyone exhibiting the "demon powers" which were the hallmark of Karse's greatest enemy - the witch-nation of Valdemar. Those they caught were "cleansed" in the fires of Vkandis Sunlord.

Both Alberich's skill and secret served him well in the army of Karse, and when Alberich became one of Karse's youngest captains, he received a special gift - a powerful white stallion "liberated from the enemy". But this honor was merely a distraction, for the Sunpriests had laid a trap which even Alberich's strange foresight could not predict... Saved from burning as a witch hen his odd white stallion braved the flames and carried him over the border into Valdemar, he was healed by the same enemies he had been taught to hate his entire life. Though he knew he could never again return to his home, Alberich also knew he could never truly become a Valdemaran. How could Alberich remain true to his own people and still retain his honor while helping to train the direst enemy of Karse?

Title: Exile's Valor Author: Mercedes Lackey Publisher: DAW Books Date of Publication: 2003 Details: Hardback, 402 pages ISBN: 0756402069

Dust Cover Teaser
Alberich was a Herald of Valdemar, but once he had been a captain in the army of Karse. It hadn't been easy for Alberich to transfer his loyalties to the kingdom he had considered his enemy all his life. And it had also been hard for the court of Valdemar to accept a Karsite who had become a Herald, to trust that Alberich would not betray his adopted country. But Alberich had more than proved himself during the Tedrel War. Alberich's bravery during the war was unequaled on the field, and his loyalty was uncompromising. He almost single-handedly turned the tide of battle, thereby winning honor and respect from the troops, and also victory for Valdemar. But Valdemar had suffered terrible casualties during this bloody conflict. Worst of all, they had lost their king. King Sendar had been in the prime of his life, a powerful and wise monarch respected and loved by his people and his court. His premature death had forced his teenage daughter Selenay, his only child, to ascend the throne. Traumatized and bereft, and having always assumed that she would have decades to learn the art of kingship, Selenay was not properly prepared to rule. She had thought that her father would be there to teach her the complicated games of power, that during his declining years she could slowly assume the mantle of his office as he delegated more and more royal duties to her care.

Now, thrust suddenly onto the throne, in mourning and weakened by sorrow, she fell prey to the machinations of the Valdemaran Council who saw her ascension as an opportunity to wrest power from the crown. With each consecutive month the Council put increasing pressure on Selenay to marry and produce an heir. And she knew that each Councillor was jockeying to place his own man at her side to be king, not merely consort - someone who could seize control from Sendar's daughter, and yet remain loyal to the Councillor who had aided his ambitions. But though Selenay was young and inexperienced, she was not stupid or malleable. She had absolutely no intention of marrying anyone she did not personally choose, nor would she allow her husband to take control of the kingdom. Herald Alberich, now the Collegium's Weaponsmaster and Selenay's personal protector, was well aware of the devious plans of the council. And he feared that the surrounding realms allied with Valdemar might use this perceived weakness to marry one of their own princes to Selenay, thereby ursurping Valdemar's throne. With Talamir, the Queen's Own Herald, unused to fulfilling his advisory duties to a young female monarch, and handicapped by the loss of his companion and his near-death experience in the Tedrel War, Selenay did not have the support she needed in this difficult situation. Could Alberich protect his vulnerable young queen from the conspiracies to steal her throne that were brewing among the aristocratic classes of Valdemar and its allied kingdoms?