• ~AGreenslade


• Fantasy Writer

When nineteen-year-old Talon encounters a ferocious icetiger in the wilds near his home village, Jaria, he has no idea how drastically his life is about to change. Within weeks, his lonely, yet somewhat comfortable lifestyle as the quartermaster's apprentice and a warrior-in-training, changes forever. Not only does the icetiger become his ‘Rada-kin’ animal companion, but Talon also receives a special earring that was left for him by his long-dead father.

Both the icetiger and the earring speak in ‘the waves’, which Talon hears in his mind. They show him friendship and understanding like he’s never known before. He also meets Sarlice, a female warrior from an allied civilisation far away. Like many of the Kriite people in Chryne, Sarlice's village is suffering at the hands of the sorcerous, war-hungry Zeikas. Sarlice came to Jaria to find help, but she soon realises the Jarian Kriites are in equal danger. For the Zeikas will stop at nothing to obliterate the Kriites from all of Chryne.

When Talon realises it’s time for him to leave Jaria, not all are in agreement. But Sarlice is appointed as his guide and they are sent to find allies. The Zeikas pursue Talon for a gift he supposedly possesses, but doesn't fully understand. There is far more to the earring than he first realised. As their journey progresses, Talon is trained by the earring, which turns out to be his Anzaii-kin. Like his mother before him, Talon has a unique gift of control over the 'waves'.

These ‘Anzaii’ abilities go back to the earliest human beings and entail a range of telepathic and spiritual abilities using the waves. Because of this, the Zeikas are well aware of how much of a threat Talon is to them. If properly cultivated and enhanced by various Anzaii artifacts, Talon’s powers will continue to grow, giving him the ability to halt Zeika magic.

Bal Harar, ruler of the Zeikas is a cunning, well-learned man several centuries old. Along with his plans to dominate the free world, he studies people with Anzaii abilities, seeking a way to turn their powers to the Zeikas’ advantage. Talon is among his ultimate targets and Bal Harar goes to great lengths to lure him into a trap.

After fleeing from Zeikas all the way to the city of Ubu, Talon and Sarlice turn to the secluded nation of Tanza. A fabled land of flying ‘skyearls’, Tanza is the world’s last-standing bastion of Kriite power. An immense, bountiful land, Tanza is ruled by people who have special flying kindred, the ‘Sleffion-kin’. These skyearls can grow to be enormous, towering beasts, with furred bodies, lion-like paws and the wings of eagles.

But the Zeikas have their eyes set on Tanza already. Both Talon and Sarlice soon realise that the problems faced by their people were only echoes of a far greater battle.

A war is coming.