In 1537 Venice, Marco and Benito Valdosta attempt to stop the evil sorcerer Chernobog and the monster that he has sent to destroy the city, while fleeing the assassins sent by the vicious Duke of Milan.

In an alternate world where magic works, the Holy Roman Empire still rules Europe, the time of the Renaissance has come, with very different results. Norway is still pagan, and a sacred relic, the Armring of Telemark, has been stolen from Odin's temple. Without it, truce-oaths cannot be renewed and bloody war with the Empire will follow. Signy, the older stepsister to the King Vortenbras is accused. When she disappears, most think it proof of her gult. Her only partisan, the Corsair-Captain Cair, knows that she had been carried off and is determined to find and rescue her. Cair is an educated man, and a hardened skeptic, thinking that all talk of magic is nonsense. As he and Prince Manfred of Brittany set out to rescue Signy, following her trail into the Underworld, battling trolls and other deadly supernatural creatures every step of the way, he will not only find that magic is very real, and dangerously so, but that he himself has a natural talent for it. A new novel set in the universe of the top-selling novels The Shadow of the Lion and This Rough Magic.

In the sequel to The Shadow of the Lion, the demon sorcerer Chernobog, having failed in his attempt to gain power over Venice, enters into a dangerous alliance with the King of Hungary to seize control of Corfu, an island that holds the key to controlling the Adriatic, while the heroes who had saved Venice reunite to stop him.

Three Top Writers Continue the Epic Fantasy Adventure Begun in the Best-Seller The Shadow of the Lion.Prince Manfred and his mentor and bodyguard, the deadly warrior Erik, survived dangers and enemies both natural and supernmatural, and if they thought that their new mission was going to be anything but more of the same, they soon gave up on that hope. Returning from Jerusalem, they and their escort of knights of the Holy Trinity are escorting an envoy of II Khan Mongol to the lands of the Golden Horde-between the Black Sea and the Carpathians, which happen to be eastern bastion against their old enemies, the demon Chernobog and his possessed puppet, the Jangellion.Unfortunately, what began as a diplomatic mission leads to Manfred and his knights being caught up in an inter-clan civil war, rescuingh a fugitive woman and her injured brother, and becoming involved in the problems of Prince Vlad, Duke of Valahia, who has been held as a hostage by King Emeric og Hungary until freed by Countess Elizabeth Batholdy to use as bait to capture a gropu pf nonhumans. Instead, the wolflike nonhumans, who masquerade as gypsies, free Prince Vlad, and help him to return to his homeland to raise revolt against Hungary and to renew age-old magics.Manfred and Erik are forced into an alliance of convenience between the Golden Horde and the ancient magical forces of Valahia, as directed by the troubled Vlad. The magic calls for blood and Vlad is deathly afraid of it-and at the same time, is irresistibly drawn toward it...

Sequel to Much Fall of Blood, book 4 in the Heirs of Alexandria series. Civilization at the crossroads. In an alternate Renaissance where magic works, a captain of Italian forces must deal with gods, goddesses and warfare in order to save his daughter at the siege of Constantinople—and prevent a new dark age.In an alternate 15th century where magic still is part of life, the Holy Roman Empire rules Europe. Constantinople is under siege by the Venetians and their allies. Hekate, Goddess of Crossroads, presides over the conflict and carnage as alternate visions of civilization collide. And since Constantinople is the crossroad city of east and west, and it is here that Italian captain Benito Valdosta must deal with the powerful magical manifestation of the Weeping Woman, a disguised Hekate, in order to save his daughter and to destroy the fleets of the Chernobog assembling in the Black Sea before they can cut into the soft underbelly of Europe. With land battle, naval action, cunning assassinations, and heartbreak aplenty—not to mention the ongoing conflict between Lord of the Dead Aidonus and Benito for the love of a woman, civilization is at the crossroads and choices must be made that will bring victory and freedom for centuries to come—or a new Dark Age.About the Heirs of Alexander series:“In this world, broken off from ours in A.D. 349. . . Christian magic battles blackest sorcery. . . making for hours of old-fashioned reading fun . . . Lackey, Flint and Freer [are] mixmasters of nearly every heard-of myth.” Publishers Weekly"[V]ast and absorbing. . .it is almost impossible to put it down while the tension remains high. . .Lackey and associates' areas of expertise, including naval history and classical mythology, are smoothly blended.”—Booklist