Search Worlds Without End

The first volume of Michael Scott Rohan's acclaimed The Winter of the World sequence.

The chronicles of The Winter of the World echo down the ages in half-remembered myth and song - tales of mysterious powers of the Mastersmiths, of the forging of great weapons, of the subterranean kingdoms of the duergar, of Gods who walked abroad, and of the Powers that struggled endlessly for dominion.

In the Northlands, beleaguered by the ever-encroaching Ice and the marauding Ekwesh, a young cowherd, saved from the raiders by the mysterious Mastersmith, discovers in himself an uncanny power to shape metal - but it is a power that may easily be turned to evil ends, and on a dreadful night he flees his new home, and embarks on the quest to find both his own destiny, and a weapon that will let him stand against the Power of the Ice.

His wanderings will bring him great friends but earn him greater enemies, and eventually they will transform him from lowly cowherd to a mastersmith fit to stand with the greatest of all men.

The siege of Kerbryhaine had been raised, the Ekwesh hordes vanquished, the Mastersmith slain. But for Alv - now Elof the Smith - the war was not yet won: Kerbryhaine was still a divided city; the Ekwesh, bloodily defeated, would look for revenge; and the Ice, implacably malevolent, continued its inexorable march southward.

So from divided Kerbryhaine Elof, Kermorvan and his companions mounted an expedition to the legendary lost cities of the East; if they managed to reunite the war-torn tribes, perhaps they could stand together against the menace of the Ice. But to Elof and Kermorvan the journey would also bring knowledge: of the Powers ranged for and against them; and the secrets within themselves waiting to be revealed - secrets that would play a part in the war yet to come.

In the great battle which had returned control of Morvannec, the legendary city, to mankind, Elof the Smith had saved Kara, his love, from the immortal Power which ruled her. But in the seven years since, the Smith has grown fearful that Kara, herself no mortal, will one day leave him. In his fear, Elof makes the mistake of drawing on his own uncanny powers to bind Kara closer to him; he only succeeds in driving her away.

Haunted, guilt-ridden, Elof can do nothing but follow his love eastwards, across the Seas of Sunrise, towards the city of Kerys in which Kermorvan of Kerbryhaine's people had originated. In the myth-filled lands of the East, where the Powers of the Ice contemplate the total extinction of life, Elof must face his past, his future and his destiny.

Centuries before the building of the Great Causeway, when the enveloping Ice seems to be in retreat, the lands of the North and South are on uneasy terms. War appears to be inevitable. But there is still some trade between them, particularly for the peerless weapons created by the Northern mastersmiths.

In one small town, Kunrad, one young mastersmith, has carved out a reputation as a fine armourer. Helped by his two apprentices, the ox-like Olvar and the silver-tongued Gille, Kunrad has created the greatest suit of armour ever made: armour fit for a hero or a king.

Gille Kilmarsson is a mastersmith and musician in a quiet northern town. But he yearns for something more. When he saves a Southern merchant ship from the savagery of the corsairs, he takes as his only reward an old musical instrument. And his life changes forever.

For the instrument has an ancient, magical past and it soon leads Gille and his companion, Olvar, on an amazing voyage of adventure and discovery. A voyage in which they must confront not only the mysteries of the sea but also a ruthless, barbaric tribe intent on massacring an ancient people fleeing the encroachment of the restless Ice.

The Winter Chronicles record many tales of the folk who fled out of the west seeking refuge from the spreading dominion of the Ice. The savage, soulless warriors had destroyed the ancient civilisations, and all that survived was legend.

Among those legends is the extraordinary story of Alya, a seer's son. Still struggling to control the magic he has inherited from his father, Alya is cast adrift in a hostile land. With nothing left to lose, he embarks on a quest - to avenge the slaughter of his kin, and to rescue the girl he loves. It is a quest that will lead Alya through a world in turmoil -- a world of magic and ice.