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Synopsis

From the author of The Language of Stones and Whitemantle also available from Book Bargains.

A great bank of loose, smouldering earth reared up before them, and beyond stretched a curtain of smoke. Ash and cinders were raw and sharp underfoot. They scraped and crunched under Will's feet as he climbed, sending up dust and a vile smell. He tried not to breathe but then as he reached the top of the bank he gasped, for beyond was a sight that he had not expected- a huge smoking crater.

'What could have done this? he whispered, looking across the shimmering waste.

'Welcome,' Gwydion said emptily, 'to the village of Little Slaughter.'

Four years ago Will cracked the mighty Doomstone in half and so brought the bloody battle of Verlamion to an end. It seemed then that the lust for war in men's hearts had been calmed forever. But now the light in the sky heralds a new threat, and Will calls on Gwydion, a wizard of deep knowledge and power once known as 'Merlyn', for advice. Gwydion suspects his old enemy Maskull. The battlestones that are scattered throughout the Realm are once again working to hasten a devastating war.

Only Will, whom Gwydion believes to be an incarnation of King Arthur, has the skill to break the power of the battlestones.

About the Author

Robert Carter was born exactly five hundred years after the first battle of the Wars of the Roses. He was brought up in the Midlands and later on the shores of the Irish Sea where his forebears hail from. He was variously educated in Britain, Australia and the United States, then worked for some years in the Middle East and remote parts of Africa. He travelled widely in the East, before joining the BBC in London in 1982. His interests have included astronomy, pole-arm fighting, canals, collecting armour, steam engines, composing music and enjoying the English countryside and he has always maintained a keen interest in history. Today he lives in a 'village' that only sounds rural - Shepherd's Bush.