Epic Cycle

Two exciting short stories set in the engrossing world of The Demon Cycle from bestselling fantasy author Peter V. Brett.Humanity has been brought to the brink of extinction. Each night, the world is overrun by demons - bloodthirsty creatures of nightmare that have been hunting and killing humanity for over 300 years. A scant few hamlets and half-starved city-states are all that remain of a once proud civilization, and it is only by hiding behind wards, ancient symbols with the power to repel the demons, that they survive.

The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that prey upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind half-forgotten symbols of power. Legends tell of a Deliverer: a general who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. But is the return of the Deliverer just another myth? Perhaps not. Out of the desert rides Ahmann Jardir, who has forged the desert tribes into a demon-killing army.

“Eyes to the horizon” were the last words the king spoke to his wife before the abrogator channeled dark power and murdered them both. Their deaths activated an enchantment that concealed their two sons’ identity and allowed the king’s brother, Kaellor, to escape from Aarindorn with the heirs to the Southlands.

Some are born to power, some seize it and some have the wisdom never to wield it. Red Knight has stood against soldiers, against armies and against the might of an empire without flinching. He's fought on real and on magical battlefields alike, and now he's facing one of the greatest challenges yet. A tournament. A joyous spring event, the flower of the nobility will present arms and ride against each other for royal favour and acclaim.

Long ago, after the Elder People deserted the place known as Witch World, a portal opened from another realm, bringing the people of Hallack to colonize the abandoned lands. But although the old inhabitants had gone, the Old Gods still existed to confound the new mortals beneath them.

Ethan has tracked down the sword Excalibur to an ancient tomb now controlled by the orc nation. They will let him see it, but he just has to do one simple task: Talk to a rampaging dragon! Did they forget to mention that the shamans they previously sent never returned? The companions must make it to the dragon's lair through the troll and giant infested forest while being harried by more fishmen. And there's the magic eating fairies to deal with! Supposedly, they can drain the Mana right out of a wizard!

On the Borderlands, Kaellor and Reddevek reunite, but their plans to thwart Tarkannen already face several obstacles. Before returning to Stone’s Grasp, they must determine if it is possible to reconcile with Savnah and Dexxin’s treasonous affiliation with the Lacuna.

Awakening in a world of myth and magic known as Vularia, Amara has been reborn as a Trickster Cleric, an avatar of the goddess Melischar. She has been tasked with rallying the Forces of Order against the legions of the Chaos Gods, who want to bring about an apocalypse. Amara is the first avatar to appear in a millennium, and Melischar is a deity of mischief, mistrusted by the other gods. The servants of the god Sirveig believe Amara to be a false prophet sent to sow discord across the land, an enemy they cannot allow to live.

Princess Æroreh Rosen was faerie blessed before her birth. To promote the New Dawn Era, the Queen coded her daughter with every feminine perfection. Hunger and lung sickness plague the kingdom of Ealdspell. But Æroreh is plugged into the Dream, a program created by a sect of faeries to control the realms through illusions of beauty and contentment. All Æroreh has ever known is blissful servitude to a cursed system, and she believes her realm is prospering. Until a different faerie sect decides to wake her sleeping mind and set her true magic free.

The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that prey upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind half-forgotten symbols of power. Legends tell of a Deliverer: a general who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. But is the return of the Deliverer just another myth? Perhaps not. Out of the desert rides Ahmann Jardir, who has forged the desert tribes into a demon-killing army. He has proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer and he carries ancient weapons - a spear and a crown - that give credence to his claim.

The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that prey upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind half-forgotten symbols of power. Legends tell of a Deliverer: a general who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. But is the return of the Deliverer just another myth? Perhaps not. Out of the desert rides Ahmann Jardir, who has forged the desert tribes into a demon-killing army. He has proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer and he carries ancient weapons - a spear and a crown - that give credence to his claim.

Ocyrhoe, a young, cunning fugitive from Rome, safeguards a chalice of subtle but great power. Finding herself in France, she allies with the persecuted, pacifist Cathar sect in their legendary mountaintop stronghold, Montségur. There she resists agents of the Roman Church and its Inquisition, fights off escalating, bloody besiegement by troops of the King of France, and shields the mysterious cup from the designs of many. Percival, the heroic Shield-Brethren knight from The Mongoliad, consumed by his mystical visions of the Holy Grail, is also drawn to Montségur - where the chalice holds the key to his destiny.

Ethan and his companions are recovering from the Tomb of Pendragon, but a new adventure calls. They have found an ancient journal belonging to the legendary wizard, Merlin, and it has directions to the ancient city. But dangers lurk on the road to Camelot, and possibly in Camelot itself. Before they know it, Ethan and his friends are swept into an adventure that may unveil untold secrets - or release untold evil.

Latona of the Vitelliae, mage of Spirit and Fire, lies still as death. Her fate rests in the hands of her allies, who must redeem her soul from the churning void where Corinna, leader of a banished Discordian cult, has trapped it. Protected by a cabal of corrupt priests and politicians, Corinna plans her most daring assault yet: a ritual striking at the ancient heart of Aven, with the power to swallow the city in a maw of chaos and strife. Her success would be Aven's doom, and the greatest violence would fall upon the most vulnerable.

In the last days of the Silver Age, the tyrant god Zeus takes whatever and whomever he wants with impunity. He has already torn Pandora from one home and now he threatens to destroy another. When he turns his wrath upon Atlantis, Pandora flees with the Titan Prometheus. Despite her bitterness, Pandora finds a friendship she never imagined possible. But Zeus is not done with Prometheus, and what Pandora will face next will make all she has endured pale in comparison.

Built from the skulls of fallen generals and demon princes, it is a seat of honor and ancient, powerful magic, keeping the demon corelings at bay. From atop the throne, Ahmann Jardir was meant to conquer the known world, forging its isolated peoples into a unified army to rise up and end the demon war once and for all. But Arlen Bales, the Warded Man, stood against this course, challenging Jardir to a duel he could not in honor refuse.

In the fifth century, the arrival of a brutal band of pre-Viking Norse raiders entwines the Mother Goddess of Celtic Ireland in a desperate bid to rid her island of the invaders turned settlers. Danu and her fellow Tuatha Gods draw Breanna Ban Morna, a Gaelic warrior with blood from both sides, into a quest to find the missing Tuatha-created Lann Dàn, the Blades of Destiny, one of three pieces of magic needed to remove the Norse leader and his ilk from their land.

None loves the land as well as Lorcan, orphaned at birth, who has sought his birthright for as long as he can remember. Exiled from his native land when it was invaded by Alizon, he spent his youth in Paltendale where he was treated as an outsider, especially by Hogeth, an heir of that dale, who resented Lorcan’s presence when both were still young men.

On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all. Arlen Bales was once an ordinary man, but now he has become something more - the Warded Man, tattooed with eldritch wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. Arlen denies he is the Deliverer at every turn, but the more he tries to be one with the common folk, the more fervently they believe.

Rhiain enjoys a charmed life as the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the realm. Spoiled and vain, she has never met a need or want she couldn’t attain. The dark spots in her memory have been tucked away, with all other unpleasant things. Then a terrible mistake brings her entire world crashing down around her. Her life shifts in an instant; her fate, uncertain. Her father’s punishment for her is forcing her to train for a life as one of his prized assassins. But a chance encounter in a familiar tavern will change everything.