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    Intrigues: The Collegium Chronicles
    Changes: Volume Three of the Collegium Chronicles
    Foundation: The Collegium Chronicles
    Audiobook series3 titles

    Valdemar Series

    Written by Mercedes Lackey

    Narrated by Nick Podehl

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this series

    Mags was a Trainee in the Heraldic Collegium in Haven, Valdemar’s capital city. Though his background of poverty and abuse at Cole Pieters’ gem mine set him apart from most other trainees, nonetheless he had found his own group of friends. Bear, Lena, and Amily were all students whose situations in life set them apart from more usual Trainees. The four of them had found mutual support in their shared misfortunes, and together struggled to help one another find solutions to their individual problems.

    But Mags’ friendship with Amily brought him to the attention of the King’s Own. The seemingly immortal Companion Rolan had Chosen Nikolas to suit the specific needs of the current monarch, and those needs were for an agent who could collect information surreptitiously. Nikolas recognized the same traits in Mags that Rolan had recognized in him and because of Mags’ friendship with Amily, no one would think twice about seeing her overprotective father spending time with Amily’s “suitor.”

    So Mags began training as Nikolas’ partner. They worked in disguise at night with Mags as Nikolas’s deaf and mute helper, where his extensive knowledge of gems—especially his skill at separating the real from the fake—would be an added benefit. Hiding in the shadows behind the desk, pretending to neither hear nor speak, Mags could better “observe” the clients, and even the surrounding neighborhood. And Nikolas could send him out on “errands” to chase down leads.

    But this new job was far more dangerous than Mags had ever considered. For there were mysterious agents in the city—agents who sought to bring down the kingdom, and no one knew where they came from or who they worked for. They were smart, talented, and preternaturally fast. And most of all they were willing to do anything—anything—to bring Valdemar to ruin.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 7, 2008
    Intrigues: The Collegium Chronicles
    Changes: Volume Three of the Collegium Chronicles
    Foundation: The Collegium Chronicles

    Titles in the series (3)

    • 1

      Foundation: The Collegium Chronicles
      Foundation: The Collegium Chronicles

      Foundation: The Collegium Chronicles

      Mercedes Lackey
      5/5 - 66 ratings
      5/5 - 66 ratings

      Mags had been working at the Pieters’s mine, slaving in the dark, cold seams, looking for sparklies, for as long as he could remember. The children who worked the mine were orphans, kids who had been abandoned, who had lost their parents, or were generally unwanted. But Mags was different. Mags was “Bad Blood,” because his parents were bandits who had been killed in a raid by the Royal Guard. “Bad Blood” because he’d been found in a cradle in the bandits’s camp. Blood so bad that no one had wanted to take him in except Cole Pieters. When he was big enough to see over the sides of the sluices he had gone to work at the mine. Mags knew nothing of the world beyond the mine, and was unaware of how unusual his paltry existence was. Then some strangers on huge white horses forced their way past the Pieters family and carried him away to Haven to become a Herald Trainee. Suddenly the whole world opened up for him. He was warm and well fed for the first time in his life, and he had Dallen, his Companion, who seemed more miraculous than an angel. But the world of the Collegium was not all heavenly. There was political upheaval in Valdemar’s capital, for the court had been infiltrated by foreign “diplomats,” who seemed to be more interested in seeding discontent than in actual diplomacy…and Mags seemed to be the only one who’d noticed.…

      Mags had been working at the Pieters’s mine, slaving in the dark, cold seams, looking for sparklies, for as long as he could remember. The children who worked the mine were orphans, kids who had been abandoned, who had lost their parents, or were generally unwanted. But Mags was different. Mags was “Bad Blood,” because his parents were bandits who had been killed in a raid by the Royal Guard. “Bad Blood” because he’d been found in a cradle in the bandits’s camp. Blood so bad that no one had wanted to take him in except Cole Pieters. When he was big enough to see over the sides of the sluices he had gone to work at the mine. Mags knew nothing of the world beyond the mine, and was unaware of how unusual his paltry existence was. Then some strangers on huge white horses forced their way past the Pieters family and carried him away to Haven to become a Herald Trainee. Suddenly the whole world opened up for him. He was warm and well fed for the first time in his life, and he had Dallen, his Companion, who seemed more miraculous than an angel. But the world of the Collegium was not all heavenly. There was political upheaval in Valdemar’s capital, for the court had been infiltrated by foreign “diplomats,” who seemed to be more interested in seeding discontent than in actual diplomacy…and Mags seemed to be the only one who’d noticed.…

    • 2

      Intrigues: The Collegium Chronicles
      Intrigues: The Collegium Chronicles

      Intrigues: The Collegium Chronicles

      Mercedes Lackey
      4/5 - 72 ratings
      4/5 - 72 ratings

      Mags was an orphan and slave of “bad blood” who toiled a gem mine all his young life. He would have died before adulthood, had he not been Chosen and taken to Haven to be trained in the new Herald Collegium. Now, Mags was never hungry and never cold. He slept in a real bed in his own room and, most importantly, he had Dallen, who was like another part of himself. And yet, aside from Lena and Bear, both loners like he was, he couldn’t relate to most of the Herald, Healer, or Bard trainees. He was the only trainee who came from what—to the others—was unimaginable poverty. There was another factor that contributed to Mag’s isolation. Foreign assassins, masquerading at court as envoys were discovered. As they fled from the Guard, one of them seemed to “recognize” Mags. Now, Mags was an object of suspicion. He had always been curious about his parents, but after the incident it became urgent for Mags to discover exactly who his parents were. And at Haven, he had access to the extensive Archives. Poring through the Archives, he got only incomplete information: his parents, found dead in a bandit camp, had been two of a number of hostages, some of whom had survived. The survivors had told the Guard that Mags’s parents spoke a language that no one understood or recognized. This information did not help, for the ForeSeers had been having visions of the king’s assassination by “one of the foreign blood.” Some had even Seen Mags with blood on his hands. How could Mags defend himself against a crime that hadn’t yet been committed?

      Mags was an orphan and slave of “bad blood” who toiled a gem mine all his young life. He would have died before adulthood, had he not been Chosen and taken to Haven to be trained in the new Herald Collegium. Now, Mags was never hungry and never cold. He slept in a real bed in his own room and, most importantly, he had Dallen, who was like another part of himself. And yet, aside from Lena and Bear, both loners like he was, he couldn’t relate to most of the Herald, Healer, or Bard trainees. He was the only trainee who came from what—to the others—was unimaginable poverty. There was another factor that contributed to Mag’s isolation. Foreign assassins, masquerading at court as envoys were discovered. As they fled from the Guard, one of them seemed to “recognize” Mags. Now, Mags was an object of suspicion. He had always been curious about his parents, but after the incident it became urgent for Mags to discover exactly who his parents were. And at Haven, he had access to the extensive Archives. Poring through the Archives, he got only incomplete information: his parents, found dead in a bandit camp, had been two of a number of hostages, some of whom had survived. The survivors had told the Guard that Mags’s parents spoke a language that no one understood or recognized. This information did not help, for the ForeSeers had been having visions of the king’s assassination by “one of the foreign blood.” Some had even Seen Mags with blood on his hands. How could Mags defend himself against a crime that hadn’t yet been committed?

    • 3

      Changes: Volume Three of the Collegium Chronicles
      Changes: Volume Three of the Collegium Chronicles

      Changes: Volume Three of the Collegium Chronicles

      Mercedes Lackey
      4/5 - 67 ratings
      4/5 - 67 ratings

      Mags was a Trainee in the Heraldic Collegium in Haven, Valdemar’s capital city. Though his background of poverty and abuse at Cole Pieters’ gem mine set him apart from most other trainees, nonetheless he had found his own group of friends. Bear, Lena, and Amily were all students whose situations in life set them apart from more usual Trainees. The four of them had found mutual support in their shared misfortunes, and together struggled to help one another find solutions to their individual problems. But Mags’ friendship with Amily brought him to the attention of the King’s Own. The seemingly immortal Companion Rolan had Chosen Nikolas to suit the specific needs of the current monarch, and those needs were for an agent who could collect information surreptitiously. Nikolas recognized the same traits in Mags that Rolan had recognized in him and because of Mags’ friendship with Amily, no one would think twice about seeing her overprotective father spending time with Amily’s “suitor.” So Mags began training as Nikolas’ partner. They worked in disguise at night with Mags as Nikolas’s deaf and mute helper, where his extensive knowledge of gems—especially his skill at separating the real from the fake—would be an added benefit. Hiding in the shadows behind the desk, pretending to neither hear nor speak, Mags could better “observe” the clients, and even the surrounding neighborhood. And Nikolas could send him out on “errands” to chase down leads. But this new job was far more dangerous than Mags had ever considered. For there were mysterious agents in the city—agents who sought to bring down the kingdom, and no one knew where they came from or who they worked for. They were smart, talented, and preternaturally fast. And most of all they were willing to do anything—anything—to bring Valdemar to ruin.

      Mags was a Trainee in the Heraldic Collegium in Haven, Valdemar’s capital city. Though his background of poverty and abuse at Cole Pieters’ gem mine set him apart from most other trainees, nonetheless he had found his own group of friends. Bear, Lena, and Amily were all students whose situations in life set them apart from more usual Trainees. The four of them had found mutual support in their shared misfortunes, and together struggled to help one another find solutions to their individual problems. But Mags’ friendship with Amily brought him to the attention of the King’s Own. The seemingly immortal Companion Rolan had Chosen Nikolas to suit the specific needs of the current monarch, and those needs were for an agent who could collect information surreptitiously. Nikolas recognized the same traits in Mags that Rolan had recognized in him and because of Mags’ friendship with Amily, no one would think twice about seeing her overprotective father spending time with Amily’s “suitor.” So Mags began training as Nikolas’ partner. They worked in disguise at night with Mags as Nikolas’s deaf and mute helper, where his extensive knowledge of gems—especially his skill at separating the real from the fake—would be an added benefit. Hiding in the shadows behind the desk, pretending to neither hear nor speak, Mags could better “observe” the clients, and even the surrounding neighborhood. And Nikolas could send him out on “errands” to chase down leads. But this new job was far more dangerous than Mags had ever considered. For there were mysterious agents in the city—agents who sought to bring down the kingdom, and no one knew where they came from or who they worked for. They were smart, talented, and preternaturally fast. And most of all they were willing to do anything—anything—to bring Valdemar to ruin.

    Author

    Mercedes Lackey

    Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music. Also known as Misty Lackey.

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