Khaavren Romances

Stephen Brust continues the Khaavren Romances, his remix of Alexandre Dumas' d'Artagnan Romances, with Five-Hundred Years Later, extending his a fantasy twist to the original The Three Musketeers sequel. The heroes of The Phoenix Guards are reunited a mere five-centuries later...just in time for an uprising that threatens to destroy the Imperial Orb itself! This is the story of the conspiracy against the Empire that begins in the mean streets of the Underside and flourishes in the courtly politics of the Palace where Khaavren has loyally served in the Guards this past half-millennium. It is the tale of the Dragonlord Adron's overweening schemes, of his brilliant daughter Aliera, and of the eldritch Sethra Lavode. And, it is the tale of four boon companions, of love, and of revenge...a tale from the history of Dragaera, of the events that changed the world.

Journeys! Intrigues! Sword fights! Young persons having adventures! Beloved older characters having adventures, too! Quests! Battles! Romance! Snappy dialogue! Extravagant food! And, the missing heir to the Imperial Throne! The Interregnum is over. To everyone's astonishment, Zerika, a very young Phoenix, has coolly emerged from the Paths of the Dead, carrying with her the Orb, which everyone had thought was lost in Adron's Disaster. The Orb is the heart of the Dragaeran Empire, the source of all its magic-and the infallible sign that Zerika is the new Empress. But, not everyone is happy to hear the news. It's been 250 years since Adron's Disaster, and power vacuums never stay that way for long. Kâna, a Dragonlord, has been expanding his holdings. He now controls almost half the area that was once the Empire, in effect, the Empire re-created, with himself on the throne. Among those opposing him is a young, Dragonlord named Morrolan, the same Morrolan familiar to every reader of the Vlad Taltos adventures. Until recently, Morrolan was an orphan raised among Easterners, unaware of his lineage, but it has belatedly come to his attention that he's a high-ranking Dragonlord, and now he means to act like one. And, from Sethra Lavode he has received a gift of immense significance and power: Blackwand, a magical artifact in the form of a sword. He'll find plenty to do with it.