The Adversary: The Sundering, Book III
Erin M. Evans
Language: English
Pages: 528
ISBN: 0786965363
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In this third book of the Sundering series kicked off by R.A. Salvatore and the dark elf Drizzt, SCRIBE award-winning author Erin M. Evans thrusts her signature character Farideh into a maelstrom of devilish politics and magical intrigue that will have far-reaching implications for the future of the Forgotten Realms.
As the chaos of the Sundering rages around her, young warlock Farideh faces a more personal turmoil wrought by a deal she made with a devil years ago. Hoping to protect her twin sister, she leaves everything she holds dear to assist a wizard in a scheme that pits the devils of the Nine Hells against the gods above.
But when Farideh casts the spell to enter the wizard’s remote mountaintop fortress, she picks up a stowaway—a Harper agent named Dahl who isn’t so inclined to follow devilish demands. Dahl attempts to escape only to run into a village of odd people, lurking behind an impenetrable wall.
Forced to gaze into the villagers’ souls, Farideh points out the ones who seem different, only to watch as the wizard’s guard carts them off to fates unknown. Are these villagers or prisoners? Are they blessed or doomed by the gods? As the wizard’s guessing game proves more and more diabolical, Farideh resolves to unravel his secrets—even if it means she’ll lose her own soul to the Nine Hells.
From the Hardcover edition.
corpse.” Rhand chuckled. “You’d be surprised.” Lorcan didn’t blink. “I don’t like surprises, you’ll find. I need her in one piece, as it happens, and still breathing.” “Can I talk to you?” Farideh blurted. Lorcan raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you can.” Farideh stared at him in disbelief. “Give us a moment alone, will you?” she said to Rhand. Rhand was silent a long moment. “Of course.” He turned to Lorcan and offered a hand. “Well met. I trust you’ll make your own way out.” Lorcan glanced at
“Perhaps they’re hiding their little lights.” “I don’t think so,” she said, the picture of calm. “I can see … their souls still shine. Only none of them have the markers that the others did.” She considered the group that filed into the courtyard—another four in this one, a young man whose copper rune seemed to pulse with his heartbeat; an elf wound up in lines of green that framed her mark; a little blue-skinned genasi girl, sniffling and hiccupping and shimmering like light on the water with a
casters made good tools and crafted such clever little things. He knew better than to interrupt. Zahnya looked up at him as the runes at her feet flared with a peculiarly dark light. It made even Magros’s eyes ache. “We are nearly finished,” she said. “Please,” he said. “Take what time you need. What happened to the Harpers?” “In the camp,” she said. “They don’t have much longer.” “A pity,” Magros said. “I suspect they are distracted by a traitor in their midst.” Zahnya didn’t ask what he
“One of ours, seven of the Dales’.” “Seven,” Tam repeated. “Not ideal,” Vescaras agreed. “But they were willing and—” “And that doesn’t matter,” Tam said sharply. He ran a hand through his silver hair. “They don’t know what they’re offering, shepherds and farmers and milkmaids.” Dahl dropped his eyes to the parchment and finished scribbling notes on Vescaras’s reports. Even if the half-elf and he didn’t get along, even if Vescaras clearly thought Dahl should have been thrown out of the
study, the feeling that she didn’t quite have the strength in her to continue in her own body persisted. A good thing the guards are gone, she thought, pausing on a landing to catch the cold air on her face. She needed a weapon, she needed to find Rhand, she needed to stop him. The armory—she all but tumbled down the stairs, all traces of stealth long gone. What was she doing? she thought. She couldn’t manage this—even if she could save the girl from Rhand, there was nowhere to run. If Dahl