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Zusatztext Praise for S.M. Stirling and his Novels of the Change “Nobody wrecks a world better than S. M. Stirling! and nobody does a better job of showing that people remain people! with all their high points and low! in the wreckage.”—Harry Turtledove! New York Times bestselling author of Joe Steele “Absorbing.”— San Diego Union-Tribune “[A] richly realized story of swordplay and intrigue.”— Entertainment Weekly Informationen zum Autor S. M. Stirling is the author of many science fiction and fantasy novels, including the Novels of the Change ( The Golden Princess , The Given Sacrifice , Lord of Mountains ) and the Shadowspawn series ( A Taint in the Blood , The Council of Shadows , Shadows of Falling Night ). A former lawyer and an amateur historian, he lives in the Southwest with his wife, Jan. Klappentext In his Novels of the Change, New York Times bestselling author S.M. Stirling presents "a devastated, mystical world that will appeal to fans of traditional fantasy as well as post-apocalyptic SF" (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Continuing their quest that began in The Golden Princess, two future rulers of a world without technology risk their lives seeking a fabled blade… Reiko, Empress of Japan, has allied herself with Princess Órlaith, heir to the High Kingdom of Montival, to find the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the Grass-Cutting Sword, a legendary treasure of an ancient dynasty that confers valor and victory to its bearer. Órlaith understands all too well the power it signifies. Her own inherited blade, the Sword of the Lady, was both a burden and a danger to her father, Rudi Mackenzie, as it failed to save the king from being assassinated. But the fabled sword lies deep within the Valley of Death, and the search will be far from easy. And war is building, in Montival and far beyond. As Órlaith and Reiko encounter danger and wonder, Órlaith's mother, Queen Mathilda, believes her daughter's alliance and quest have endangered the entire realm. There are factions both within and without Montival whose loyalty died with the king, and whispers of treachery and war grow ever louder. And the Malevolence that underlies the enemy will bend all its forces to destroy them.Chapter One Golden Gate/Glorannon (Formerly San Francisco Bay) Change Year 46/Fifth Age 46/Shohei 1/2044 AD Crown Princess Órlaith Arminger Mackenzie put her right hand to a stay and shaded her eyes with her left, looking landward as the fog-shrouded Golden Gate loomed before the Tarshish Queen 's bow. Behind her the booms of the big merchant schooner's three gaff mainsails swung out to starboard, with a thump and twang she could feel as a shiver through her feet as well as her fingers when the travelers reached the end of their play and the foot of the forestaysail swept by overhead. They were beating back and forth until the fogbank lifted enough for the tricky passage into the Bay. Her father had died there beyond the bridge, on the northern shore of the great inland water, at the hands of men who'd come this very path not three months gone. Don't remember his death every moment , she told herself. Which was wise, but hard, hard to do. Grandmother Juniper had once said to her that if wisdom was easy any fool would be able to do it. Then she'd thumped down the beater on her big loom with fingers age-gnarled but still deft and Órlaith had pinched out the lamp-wicks and both of them laughed. They'd been laughing still as they went down the stairs to sit by the hearth in the hall below, to watch winter cider simmering on the hob and listen to Aunt Fiorbhinn patiently leading her latest apprentice through a piece on the harp and breathe in the strong fir-sap scent of the Yule Tree. It wasn't as funny now, though she probably und...
