J.W. Elliot

To defy the Order of the Rook is to dance upon the edge of a knife. The secretive Order of the Rook bursts from the shadows, sweeping over the land, assassinating royal families, and seizing control of armies and cities. Those who dare resist are hunted to extinction. Now Brion races to save Brigid, Emyr, and their new child from the assassins sent to destroy them. But this time, it isn't just about the lives of those he loves. The freedom of all lands rests in his hands and those of the friends he left behind in Morcia. The avalanche of empire can only be stopped by the death of the Masters of the Rook, the most skilled and dangerous assassins in the land. If Brion and his allies can't find a way to stop them, no one will.

Brion is trapped in a hopeless search for his mentor and friend, Redmond, who has disappeared in a kingdom on the brink of civil war. When he falls afoul of the regent, Lady Adelaide, Brion finds himself beyond the bounds of the law, pursued by assassins, and accused of kidnapping the boy-king of Morcia. Now he must pluck Redmond out of a thousand square miles of enemy territory while evading clashing armies and keeping his friends alive. How far will he go to save one friend? How much will he sacrifice?.

Reckless courage, desperate loyalty, and the will to survive. Redmond knows three things about the woman who has imprisoned his archers. She is beautiful. She is cunning. And she cares nothing for their lives. When she drugs his men in preparation for enslavement in the deadly salt mines, Redmond embarks on an audacious and impossible plan--steal the castle from her and sell it to the highest bidder. To do that, he and his band of archers must hold the castle against an overwhelming force of men who believe Redmond murdered their relatives and a King more preoccupied with territorial expansion than peace and security in his realm. Failure means a lingering death in the mines, but success might be just as dangerous.

The heathland is in turmoil?In these four original stories from the heathland, you?ll meet new characters in the ongoing chronicles of the heathland and discover their personal sagas of loss and failure, of loyalty and triumph, born in the struggle for the heart and soul of the heathland. In Blood on the Reeds, a coup has toppled the royal line of Hassani and threatened all connected with that family. Thane must choose either to betray his king or rescue the last survivor of a massacre. In The Hidden Archer, war has erupted between Coll and the Salassani. Trapped in an isolated valley, Redmond faces an unseen enemy alone while his friends lay dying only yards away. Only one archer can walk out of the valley alive. In War of the One-Eyed Woman, the genocide of the Carpentini begins over the birth of an innocent girl. Edrick must rush to save his family before the Bracari capture and kill them all.In The Deadly Jest, the Order of the Rook has sent its newest initiate, Mara, on a dangerous mission into the southland. She finds herself entangled in intrigues of the heart and the treachery of those she should be able to trust.

While Brion has discovered his true identity and survived the plots to kill him, his Carpentini mother he thought long dead has been driven into hiding and Brion and Finola venture into the heathland to find her. When they discover that the Dunkeldi king has outlawed the Carpentini and Salassani and is hunting them to extinction, Brion and Finola race to find his mother before it is too late. They soon realize that they are embroiled in a war for the heathland and for the heart and soul of its people. The Bracari besiege the desperate remnant of the Carpentini and Salassani in their last refuge in the Aveen Mountains. Meanwhile, King Emyr makes a reckless gamble to unite the entire island under his rule. Now Brion must decide between saving his mother and his wife or saving King Emyr and the whole of the Frei-Ock Isle from chaos and bloodshed. If he chooses wrong, he may lose everything and everyone he cares about.