Exile

For over three hundred years the mystics have lived alongside the true-men, until King Charald lays siege to the mystic's island city. Imoshen, most powerful of the female mystics, is elected to negotiate with the true-man king. The male mystics still resent her, but she has an ally in Sorne, the half-blood, who was raised by true-men. Even though he is vulnerable to her gifts, he gives Imoshen his loyalty. In return, she gives him the most dangerous of tasks, to spy for her. She negotiates exile for her people. They must pack all their valuables, reach port and set sail by the fi rst day of winter. But to do this, they have to cross a kingdom filled with true-men who are no longer bluffed by their gifts. Meanwhile, there are mystics living in the countryside, unaware that their people have been exiled. King Charald announces any mystics who remain behind after they are exiled will be hunted down and executed.

Rowena Cory Daniells lives in Queensland, Australia, by the bay with her husband and has six children. She has devoted five years to studying each of these martial arts: Tae Kwon Do, Aikido and Iaido, the art of the Samurai Sword. She has supported the writing community by serving on the management committees of two Australian national genre awards, the Queensland Writers Centre, the Brisbane Writers Festival and Fantastic Queensland. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies including ‘Dreaming DownUnder’ which won World Best Fantasy and ‘Dreaming Again’. The first trilogy for Solaris The Chronicles of Kin Rolen's Kin became a best-seller in Europe in 2010 and much sought-after in the USA.