Ethshar

Tobas had been lucky to find a wizard to take him on as apprentice. But then the wizard died suddenly and unexpectedly after teaching Tobas only a solitary spell, and the youth was too old to find a new master. How could he earn a living when all the magic he could do was light fires?

"When the foreigners confronted Sterren in Ethshar of the Spices he was uneasy; when they all but abducted him, taking him to an obscure kingdom in the south, he knew he was in a terrible predicament. A predicament some might actually find appealing he was by heredity the Ninth Warlord of Semma, least of the small kingdoms; he was a noble, and his rank afforded him material privileges, even in a place as insignificant and obscure as Semma. But the office also carried certain terrible responsibilities: he was to win the war the stupid King had stirred up by his arrogance. Two larger and stronger Kingdoms were preparing to invade Semma. And if the country lost, the first thing likely to be forfeit was the life of the Warlord. And if it won ... if it won, the fate and shape of Ethshar would change forever. For deep in the south there are secrets of magic not even Sterren can imagine."

Dumery of Shiphaven was a lad with a love of wizardry-and no magic at all. He dreamed of apprenticing himself to a great wizard, but because he had not even a touch of the talent, it was a dream he could never fulfill. He would never apprentice himself to a great wizard, nor even a meager one; no matter how he loved magic and the magical arts, he would never work with wizards or wizardry. That's what Dumery was beginning to think, anyway-until he spied a great wizard humbling himself before a man selling dragon's blood, the precious stuff that made difficult spells work. If Dumery couldn't be a wizard, he could still become a dragon-hunter-and have all those condescending wizards crawling to him. And so Dumery set off on a quest-a quest in search of dragons and dragon-hunters, and ultimately the secret that lay beneath all the wizardry in Ethshar. Before he reached its end, he would uncover the terrible mystery of the dragon-hunters-and scheme a scheme that would change the face of Ethsharitic magic forever.

She was everything he wanted, and everything he had been promised. A fortune-teller's prophecy had sent Kelder of Shulara to seek adventure along the Great Highway. He had been ready to give it up, and dismiss the seer as a fraud, when he met Irith. Irith was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was bright and charming and cheerful. And she had wings. Kelder tried to earn Irith's love and respect. He tried to please her, and to fulfill the prophecy that seemed to say he would one day marry her. But as he came to know her, he began to realize that she was not quite what she appeared to be. She was not just a lovely young woman. She was not even entirely human. She had ruined men's lives. And he needed to learn what she truly was before she destroyed him, as well. What he would learn, and where he would go, would makes its mark on the destiny of Ethshar.

Tabaea the Thief stole something more precious than Dragons' Blood from the enchanted old house: evesdropping on the doddering wizard who owned the place, she stole the secret of wizardry itself.

Lawrence Watt-Evans's tales of the magical land of Ethshar of the Spices had a large and devoted following in the late eighties and early nineties. Now, after nearly ten years, he brings us a new tale of mystery, magic, and madness. Warlockry has been rare in Ethshar ... until The Night of Madness, when a mysterious object falls from the heavens, sending out a wave of magic in the form of a dream. All who have the dream awaken in panic. But some of them also awaken to the power or Warlockry. Throughout the land these newly made warlocks wreak havoc; looting and rioting, petty personal revenge, and uncontrollable madness run rampant. Worse, people are hearing a mysterious, irresistible call from which they never return. Into this chaos steps the power-hungry Lord Faran, who seeks to use his new warlock powers to overthrow the government and take possession of the throne. Who will dare to oppose him?

Despite several years of study, Kilisha, an aspiring young apprentice wizard, has much to learn. After gathering ingredients for a lesson, she returns home to find her master, Ithanalin the Wise, transformed into a statue. A tax collector interrupted Ithanalin while working on a spell, a magic mirror tells her, with the result that the wizard's soul has been distributed among the various household objects. "The dish had run away with the spoon" is literally the case here, as all the furnishings have become animated and escaped out the door. In her efforts to track down the runaway objects and restore her petrified master to his former self, a quest that will eventually take her to the Overlord of Ethshar's fortress, Kilisha first tries to involve the Wizards' Guild but ultimately must rely on the few spells she knows and her master's spell book-as well as her own imagination, initiative and ingenuity. "Excellent pacing and naive charm make this good-natured fantasy especially suitable for teens." - Publishers Weekly "Ebullient fantasy featuring sympathetic characters, fantastic sorceries, and a fairytale plot." - Library Journal "Lawrence Watt-Evans delivers worlds brimming over with magic, mystery, and danger; fast-paced, action-packed, and thoroughly entertaining." -Realms of Fantasy

Every wizard in Ethshar knew that if you needed something special, something difficult to find, that Gresh the Supplier was the man to see. He was expensive, but always delivered. So when the Wizards' Guild finally got fed up with the little green nuisances that called themselves "spriggans," the Guild hired Gresh to fetch them the magic mirror that created the troublesome imps. The wizards thought finding it looked impossible. Gresh thought his methods would do the job. But no one had asked the spriggans what they thought!

Once, not so long ago, a warlock named Vond built an empire in the southern part of the Small Kingdoms. Vond is gone, but his empire survives under the rule of a seven-person Imperial Council and a young regent named Sterren. The Empire of Vond was hardly trouble-free after Vond's departure. Its neighbors are understandably wary of further expansion, there are questions about how Vond's magic became so potent, and so on. Most of the World, though, doesn't care - Vond is off there in the southeastern corner of the World, far away from anywhere important. But one day a dockworker named Emmis watches a Vondish ship arrive in Ethshar of the Spices and finds himself hired as native guide and aide to someone who claims to be Vond's ambassador plenipotentiary to the overlords of the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars. But who is the Vondish ambassador, really, and what is his true business in Ethshar? And who has followed him to the city?

The Calling. Sooner or later, it claimed every powerful warlock ... a growing magical compulsion to go north to the mysterious land of Aldagmor that nothing could stop. None ever returned. Hanner the Warlock knew his days were numbered. The Calling pulled at him ceaselessly now, and his ability to resist had begun to crumble. So he determined to find a place where the Calling couldn't reach him ... another world, located through a magic tapestry. Every warlock knew that the farther he was from Aldagmor, the weaker the Calling was - and the weaker his magic was, as well, but that was only a secondary consideration. That weakening had given Hanner the idea to find, or make, a place so distant from Aldagmor that the Call couldn't reach it at all. Unfortunately, the Call took him anyway. And that's where his story really gets interesting. Because the Calling wasn't what everyone believed. And when the warlocks who had been Called over the decades suddenly woke up again at the object doing the calling - and found themselves without their powers - their world may never be the same!

Young Ishta found it in the forest, buried beneath dead leaves: a rounded, flattened stone as black as onyx. One side held a golden oval that glowed with an unnatural light. Of course, it had to be magic. But what did farmers know of magic? It could be dangerous, or it could be some harmless toy. They had to find out. Since Ishta was too young to bring her discovery to the Baron of Varag's stronghold, her older brother, Garander, went instead. Once there, Azlia, a beautiful wizard, recognized the stone immediately as Northern sorcery. She had to call Sammel, the local sorcerer, to find out its nature ... a relic of the last great war. When the Baron takes the stone for himself, that should have ended things. But it was just the beginning for Garander. Because that magical stone wasn't the only relic left in the woods...

Every wizard in Ethshar knew that if you needed something special, something difficult to find, that Gresh the Supplier was the man to see. He was expensive, but he always delivered. So when the Wizards' Guild finally got fed up with the little green nuisances that called themselves "spriggans," the Guild hired Gresh to fetch them the magic mirror that created the troublesome imps. The wizards thought finding it looked impossible. Gresh thought his methods would do the job. But no one had asked the spriggans what they thought!