Stone and the Maiden : The House of the Pandragore

The myths name it the Signata: the place that contains all places, the moment that contains all moments. As enigmatic to the gods as to mortals, the sacred treasure is said to have appeared but thrice in forty centuries, always in a different form, & each time to vanish as suddenly as it came. Its purpose & powers, no one knows. Yet in a world threatened by an ancient & merciless evil, it seems the only hope--if it can be found. The barbarian Tathars cut a scarlet swath across the lands of the Ascendancy, led by Erkai the Chain, a master of the dreaded Black Craft. However, there exists a power that dwarfs even Erkai's sorcery: the force known as Deep Magic, long ago banished from the world. But now Erkai has found a way to break the ban, & seize that terrible power for his own. Defeating Erkai & the Tathar horde falls to Mandine Dascaris, heiress to the throne of the Ascendancy, & to the young soldier Key Mec Brander, an outlander from the distant lands of the Elthame. Together they embark on a secret, desperate search for the Signata. To fail means the ruin of their world--but the price of success may be no less than their lives.