FIREBLADE: Tales of the Vargar

H A Culley is well known for his successful historical novels. Now he is embarking on a new venture – historical fantasy.

With her teenage children, Anya lives a quiet life as a huntress and a farmer in the foothills of the Talas Mountains: a complete contrast to her previous life as commander of the Nekrosten Army in the war against the neighbouring Kingdom of Manqoba. The peace and tranquillity of the past decade is shattered by the sudden arrival of her former brother-in-law, Paulan, Grand Master of the Red Monks. The Prophet – the spiritual leader of the followers of Astrah, the Lord of Light – has died and Paulan needs someone to seek out the person into whose body the Prophet’s spiritual essence has entered. He or she will be the next Prophet. It is a fairly simple process for the Red Monks to locate the person chosen but he proves to be a Vargar youth. Not only do the Vargar not believe in Astrah; they are barbarians who live in clans constantly at war with the other clans who inhabit the Great Plains which cover the northern half of the continent. They are prone to kill any strangers who venture into their lands without asking questions Anya sets out to gather a handful of famed warriors with which to escort a small group of Red Monks in their quest to find the new Prophet. However, she soon discovers that the barbarous Vargar clans are not the only enemies she faces. Everyone seems to want her mission to fail, including more than one traitor in her tight knit group. Furthermore, she has no idea how they are going to persuade a young barbarian, whose culture, and even language, is so completely different to that of the nations of the south, to accompany them back to the Great Temple where his destiny awaits.