The Redemption Series

I began the series with the premise of the ‘damaged’ hero; thus, this first book focuses on the damaging of the heroes by Gar, the consequences to them and their ability to fulfill their quest. Gar, with the help of a servant, steals a powerful magical artifact, and the two of them travel across time and space to alter the minds of those who will be chosen by the One to end Gar’s dominion. The chosen come from all the orders of good: one from the kortexi order, a holy warrior for the One, named Blakstar, violated by servants of Gar and marked with the symbol of evil upon his chest; another from the white maghi order, wielders of elemental forces, called Thal, the symbol of Gar woven into the patterns of his mind; he and Blakstar are sent to Shigmar, home of the green kailum, practitioners of healing arts, to meet the third chosen, a kailu named Klaybear, who has the potential of becoming the most powerful kailu, marked by Gar himself, as Klaybear goes to the order’s sacred glade to receive his vision, a vision that is corrupted by his marking with the symbol of evil. Once the other chosen gather in Shigmar with these three, Klaybear is tried for openly bearing the symbol of evil, and during the trial, nearly all the chosen present are shown also to bear the same mark; these are branded as outlaws and condemned to die, but are rescued from the school dungeon by one of the chosen not condemned, called Tevvy, from a race half the size of the others. As they sneak through the sewers beneath the city, they discover a refuge, opened by Blakstar’s sword, which is one of three keys. Inside this refuge, hidden for 3500 years, they discover mental compulsions on two of their number and sever the links, but the severing of these strings causes the minds to which they were attached to unravel. The compulsion on Tevvy is simple and easy to repair; on Klaybear’s wife it was attached in such a way that her entire mind begins to unravel, and he cannot repair the damage quickly enough to prevent her from becoming a mental vegetable. When he despairs, thinking all is lost, other mental hands come to his aid, and all present hear the voices of the One and His spouse, along with one other, speaking to them, giving them instructions on what to do next and helping him to repair his wife’s mind.

In this second book of The Redemption series, the chosen seek out the staff of the first kailu, Shigmar, and discover the heavy consequences of using such a powerful artifact to save the city and school of the kailum.

The chosen begin their search for the attacker of Shigmar, who holds Melbarth's Rod, in their effort to recover the rod. This search leads them deep into the swamp named Mariskal where they find the solitary monsters have banded together and begun to attack the areas nearest the Mariskal.

In this fourth book of The Redemption series, the chosen continue their search for Melbarth's rod while the general populace actively seek to destroy them; they locate the missing rod and confront the rod's terrible guardian.

In an attempt to minimize the influence of the red kailum on the people, the gwenakso, led by her commanders Delgart and Marilee, with the aid of their fellow chosen, infiltrate the red kailu fortress of Luflina, killing the red kailu masters and using their fall to convince the Red Guards to surrender and switch their allegiance. As the red kailu Magsamel lay dying, he hints at the fact that this fortress is not the home of their order, that the red kailu order is everywhere. In the process of taking the fortress, Klaybear is lost, taken by agents of Xythrax and imprisoned by the false Fereghen, Lord Krell, in the dungeons beneath the seklesi citadel at Holvar. Thalamar, Telvor, Rokwolf, and Blakstar, follow a red kailu initiate deep into the Wolpoti Swamp, hoping to find both the home of the red kailu order and the place where Klaybear is imprisoned. They reach and enter a hill called Nekrokolu, where Blakstar is tricked into entering a small recess inside Nekrokolu to rescue what he believes is a damsel in distress; instead, he triggers a trap that transports him to the citadel of Karble, captured by his son Whitesun. The three remaining chosen face and defeat the fabled black aperu, guarding the entrance to Xythrax’ lair, where the battle against the black aperu results in the accidental destruction of all Xythrax’s purgle minions, their spirits hidden in objects stored within the black aperu’s cave. In the fight with Xythrax, Rokwolf saves Thal’s life, Gwoneru explodes, and a shard destroys the object within which Xythrax has placed his spirit, destroying him. The destruction of the sword kills Rokwolf. Meanwhile, Klare returns to the Healer’s Cottage to help a supplicant, and is captured by the black maghi, Melufa, who takes her to the hilltop just outside of Shigmar, where she kills both Klare and her unborn child, taking the Healer’s Staff and fleeing back to Eklor. The deaths of both twin-brother and wife hurls Klaybear into madness, allowing him to break free of his prison and destroying the seklesi fortress in Holvar. Before Klaybear escapes, Delgart, newly crowned Fereghen, goes with Marilee, Thal, and Tevvy to the throne hall of Holvar, revealing Lord Krell and his consort to be Gar and Rupansa. As the citadel begins to fall, Delgart sends the others to the hill north of Shigmar, where Elanor weeps over Klare’s dead body. Delgart goes to an isolated farmstead and retrieves Blakstar’s childhood friend, the real Marta, and takes her to testify to the kortexem that their Wesento, Sir Whitesun, has lied to them. Blakstar fights Whitesun, a battle of titanic proportions, finally defeating and killing the false Wesento; the kortexem go mad, killing each other, the fight and madness spreading throughout Karble, until only the false Marta, Demansa, remains alive. Rokwolf and Sutugno are dead, leaving behind a newborn daughter; Klare is dead; Holvar and the seklesi order destroyed; Karble and the kortexi order destroyed; the chosen mourning over the loss of Klare and Rokwolf, sit disconsolate on the only living ground anywhere near Shigmar, the hilltop on which Klaybear enacted breath-givers most terrible power. Thus, House of Potimus begins. . . .

After much fruitless searching, leading them through the Mariskal and finally to Aperkolu, the chosen have recovered Melbarth’s rod. In the process, Rokwolf showed his prowess, defeating Gwenatera, the Fire Queen, almost singlehandedly, releasing the trapped spirit of fire, Atala, from the flesh that imprisoned her. Before taking the rod, Gar tries to stop them himself, offering to heal the damage done to each of them, if they will leave Melbarth’s rod where it is. The Lord of Evil shows them Sutugno, blind and old, having spent fifty years in the breeding pits of Kolu, worn out from producing son after son; he changes her back to her natural age, repairing her eyes. He reveals facts about each of the chosen, telling them that if they will leave thought-giver alone, he will ensure that the child Klare carries is actually Klaybear’s; although stunned by this revelation, the chosen refuse, taking the rod and rejecting Gar’s offers. Sutugno returns to her blind and aged form; after Gar flees in anger, the voice of the One tells them that with possession of all three keys, they are invulnerable to attack while together, but that the three keys together will draw the servants of Gar to them like a beacon, that they must separate for a month, meeting next together in the entrance to Shigmar’s tomb, where they will hear the last message of the founders. Thus, Xythrax’s End: Book 5 of The Redemption begins. . . .

Klare has been restored to life, but in the process, Delgart has wandered off in the company of a heretofore unknown traitor; Klaybear and Thal’s bodies have been recovered from the space in between space and time, but their minds are gone, and where they have gone, we do not yet know; the reclusive vedi race has broken its long isolation to aid the people of the land because of the appearance of ‘white ponkolum’, or servants of Gar who have renounced him and joined the chosen in service to The One. Battle is coming, the final battle to decide the fate of the world; the remaining chosen must gather the survivors to the newly restored city of Shigmar, and prepare to face the final assault of the forces of Gar.