The Outcast Chronicles Series by Rowena Cory Daniells
The Outcast Chronicles #1
Besieged
Rowena Cory Daniells
The Outcast Chronicles follows the fate of a tribe of dispossessed mystics. Vastly outnumbered by people without magical abilities, they are persecuted because ordinary people fear their gifts. This persecution culminates in a bloody pogrom sanctioned by the king who lays siege to the Celestial City, last bastion of the mystics. When the city falls, the mystic leader negotiates their surrender and her people are exiled from their homeland. Imoshen: Her birth was hidden by her father, the ambitious leader of a great brotherhood. She was raised by covenant breaking T'En warriors and only just escaped with her life at eighteen. Seeking sanctuary in the Celestial City, she is voted its leader when the city is beseiged. Tobazim: Inspired by tales of honour and glory, Tobazim went to the Celestial City, hoping to win statura and rise through the ranks of his brotherhood. But he finds the city besieged and vastly different from the stories. Ronnyn: a pure-blood mystic to half-blood parents and only 12 years old. His gift will surface but there is no one to teach him how to contain his power and harness it. Ronnyn would do anything to protect his family, even if it means leaving them. Aravelle: Ronnyn's sister. Clever, but fated to serve because she was born a half-blood. Her parents lives are never ending drudgery, scraping a living from the sea and their island home's poor soil. She fears what will happen when Ronnyn's gift starts mannifesting. Do her parents have a plan? Will her family have to go back to the Celestial City? If they do, will her parents be punished for running away from their brotherhood? This is a family-saga set in a fantasy world. Four people linked by blood, love and vows struggle with misplaced loyalties, over-riding ambition and hidden secrets which could destroy them. Some make desperate alliances only to suffer betrayal, and some discover great personal strength. BOOK ONE: BESEIGED For nearly 300 years the mystics have lived alongside the true-men, who barely tolerate them, until... King Charald is cursed with a half-blood mystic son. Sorne is raised to be a weapon against the mystics. Desperate to win his father's respect, Sorne steals power to trigger visions. Unaware King Charald plans their downfall, the mystics are consumed by rivalry. Although physically stronger, the males' gifts are weaker than the females. Imoshen, the only female mystic to be raised by males, wants to end the feud. But the males resent her power and, even within her own sisterhood Imoshen's enemies believe she is addicted to the male gifts. Sorne tries, but cannot win the respect of True-men. When he has a vision of half-bloods in danger he has to ask himself where his loyalty lies. Convinced he can destroy the mystics, King Charald plans to lay siege to their island city. Will Imoshen win the trust of the mystic leaders and, if she does, will she believe the visions of a half-blood?
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