Jan Goeb

Young Ena D'Wojdt, student healer and magician fresh from the steppes of her homeland thought tribal politics was messy until she got involved in the Imperial and Academic varieties.

The elected kings of Talleur have to be magicians. People have forgotten why. But with the king kidnapped, Magician Ena D’Wojdt and policman Ivor Katiesson learnr that there is a spell only the king knows that must be said before sunset on Wintersnight — winter solstice — now six days away. If they cannot find the king or the spell in time, some...

Ena D'Wojdt, the Regius Fellow in Thaumaturgy, travels to the steppes following a rumor that Old, deadly, Magic is being used. Rumor isn't wild enough, politics is complicated by treason and war forces people to face umpleasant truths. Trust becomes the rarest commodity as disease decides the winner.