by Kate Forsyth
A gripping and brilliantly imagined story of witches, enchantment, magical creatures and dark mysteries in the tradition of Anne McCaffrey and Marion Zimmer Bradley, Dragonclaw was shortlisted for the 1997 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy.
Kate Forsyth
The Pool of Two Moons
Book Two of the Witches of Eileanan
‘Rumours in the countryside tell of a prophecy—they say a winged man will come to save the land, bearing the lost Lodestar in his hand. He shall come with dragons at his shoulder and all the powers o’ sorcery at his command …’
Meghan of the Beasts, Key-Bearer of the Coven, knows the time is near. It will be by the Pool of Two Moons in the ancient city of Lucescere that the future of the witches of Eileanan is decided.
As their rebel armies grow, new allies—and new dangers—emerge. The sea-dwelling Fairgean have overtaken large stretches of coastline. And why has the aloof and mysterious Margrit of Arran suddenly emerged to meet the Rìgh?
Kate Forsyth
The Forbidden Land
Book Four of the Witches of Eileanan
‘We have come because His Highness Lachlan MacCuinn has requested the help o’ your daughter Fionnghal,’ Enit replied quietly. ‘She has particular skills that the Rìgh is in dire need o’.’
‘Aye, thieving and deceiving about like that wicked cat o’ hers,’ her mother said with bitter shame in her voice. ‘Very well, take her …’
Finn the Cat is bored with life as Banprionnsa at Castle Rurach. She’s always getting into trouble and smoking her pipe instead of sewing a fine seam like a banprionnsa should.
Luckily a caravan of jongleurs arrives to break the monotony. But this is no ordinary caravan: led by Dide the Juggler, the jongleurs have come on behalf of the Rìgh—it seems Lachlan the Winged has urgent need of someone with Finn’s peculiar abilities …
Embarking on a clandestine journey that will take them beyond the Great Divide and into the Forbidden Land, Finn and her companions must face dangers that will test their courage to breaking point … and set a new course for Eileanan itself.
Kate Forsyth
The Skull of the World
Book Five of the Witches of Eileanan
‘Sign of the Soul-Sage. A good omen for your quest,’ the Soul-Sage said. ‘A sign of death as well as wisdom, though, remember. Change ahead for you, like the change wrought on a landscape by an avalanche. There are things in your past and in your unknown which shall seize you in their jaws and seek to drag you under.’
Isabeau has immersed herself in the life of the Khan’cohbans but she still hopes to return to Eileanan from her self-imposed exile. First, though, she must undertake her journey of initiation to the Skull of the World, where the cruel and enigmatic Gods of White will reveal her destiny to her; and where she will at last discover her true Talent.
Changed beyond belief, Isabeau can finally return to Lucescere and the Tower of Two Moons—but only to find that she alone must confront Margrit of Arran, whose evil machinations threaten to destroy Isabeau and all that she holds most dear.
Kate Forsyth
The Fathomless Caves
Book Six of the Witches of Eileanan
‘I saw the scaly sea rise and flood the land, the Red Wanderer like a bloody gash in the sky. That is when they will come, with the rising o’ the red comet the Fairgean will come …’
Before his death, the blind prophet Jorge had foreseen the conjuring of a tidal wave by the sea-dwelling Fairgean, Eileanan’s bitterest enemies. Driven by ancient hatreds, the Fairgean have called upon dreadful powers to aid them in their quest to totally annihilate all those who dwell upon the land. As the time of the comet draws ever closer, Lachlan and Iseult try desperately to avert the terrible fate the seer had prophesied, testing their strength and love to the utmost.
Meanwhile, Isabeau must travel a dark and dangerous road to fulfill her own destiny and prove herself worthy of the ring of the sorceress. Facing old enemies and new, the most difficult challenge of all will be conquering the ghosts of her past. For is Isabeau is to heal the land, she first must find the way to healing her own troubled spirit …