Duncan Lay, author of the Dragon Sword Histories has released a new book!! It is called Empire of Bones #1 Bridge of Swords and it looks to be a great read. We asked Duncan for some background info on the new series and this is what he has to say.
Sendatsu
Sendatsu is a warrior on the run, being hunted by his own
people, trying frantically to get back to his children and unravel a
300-year-old mystery about magic and why his people sealed themselves off from
the rest of the world.
The son of a Clan Leader, his name means Guide or Pioneer
in the old tongue of his people, the language nobody speaks any more. He has
lived a life of privilege and luxury, always surrounded by servants and those
eager to do his bidding.
Yet it has not been easy. His father, Lord Jaken, is
determined to take control of the Council, to rule not one clan but the whole
of Dokuzen. Sendatsu had to be the best at everything, prove the superiority of
Clan Tadayoshi – or else. And he has known heartache. As the son of a Clan Leader,
he was not allowed to marry his childhood love, Asami. Instead he was forced to
marry the daughter of another Clan Leader, to unite two clans and improve their
political standing. Meanwhile Asami also had to marry – Sendatsu’s best friend,
Gaibun.
His wife, Kayiko, died in childbirth and he stepped aside
from the life of political manoeuvring and backstabbing his father saw for him
to instead raise his children. This act of rebellion was the first and only way
he had defied his father.
But when a chance discovery reveals clues to a
300-year-old mystery and threatens to turn Dokuzen on its head, Sendatsu is the
one at the heart of it.
Forced to go on the run, hunted by his own people, he
finds himself in Vales, a rough, backward land that nevertheless may hold all
the answers in the ruins dotted across his hills and valleys and in the hearts
of its people. If he can find the answers, he can go home.
But Vales is not without its own problems, while to the
south, the cruel King Ward of Forland looks to add it to the long list of his
conquests.
Sendatsu stumbles across a curious pair, a young Velsh
bard called Huw and a young Forlish dancer called Rhiannon, both on the run
from Ward.
He sees them as the source of answers and the way home.
They see him as the hero they need. But are both wrong?
HUW
In a land where all must work hard to live, Huw dares to
dream. While his people love to pass the long winter nights with tales, songs
and riddles, Huw is the first of them to want to make that his life. While his
village sneers and laughs at him, he travels south to Forland, to earn enough
gold to prove them wrong.
In this arrogant country, made rich from its conquests
and packed with slaves from conquered lands, he wins both gold and fame,
winning the coveted right to perform at the King’s court.
To get there he has had to deny his Velsh heritage,
pretend he is also Forlish, forget all his father taught him about honour and
principles – but he sees that as a small price to pay.
But then two things rock his complacent little world.
First he meets Rhiannon, a beautiful Forlish dancer also performing for the
King and falls head over heels for her. Then he learns King Ward plans to
terrorise and terrify the Velsh until they beg to become part of Forland.
Torn between staying and somehow winning the heart of the
untouchable Rhiannon and warning his people, the decision is taken out of his
hands when he overhears King Ward and Rhiannon’s father discussing how to make
her the King’s mistress.
Huw tricks Rhiannon and flees north to Vales, hoping to
save his people and win the girl, all in one.
But saving a peaceful land of farmers and miners from a
brutal army of conquest is not an easy task.
Then Huw and Rhiannon meet Sendatsu, from fabled Dokuzen.
Not realising he is a hunted fugitive, they see him as the saviour of Vales.
Although Rhiannon, who has been raised on tales of beautiful Dokuzen and longs
to dance there, sees Sendatsu as something more …
Huw faces many choices, none of them easy, and must learn
there is always a price to be paid for your actions …
RHIANNON
Her mother died giving birth to her and she has been
raised by her father Hector, once a noted singer in the court of King Ward,
until illness robbed him of his voice and his fame. He has trained her from birth
to astound the court and astonish the King with her singing and dancing.
Her life has been devoted to the one goal, without
friends or family, until she meets a young bard she thinks is called Hugh of
Browns Brook. But her new friend turns her life upside down when he tells her
he is really Huw from Vales and she has to run away with him or join her father
as a victim of King Ward.
Torn between grief at the loss of her beloved father and
a determination to avenge his death and protect the Velsh, she only sees Huw as
a friend. But she sees Sendatsu as a vision, something out of the songs she has
spent her life singing.
Meanwhile, she is learning to stretch her wings, to make
decisions for herself and step outside the gilded cage her father crafted for
her.
What she doesn’t know is that her father Hector is very
much alive and hunting for her and Huw, determined to drag them both to King
Ward and face his vengeance at being cheated of his prize.
What none of them know is that the answers to the 300-year-old
mystery lie within Rhiannon. She has a hidden power that will turn every single
land upside down and utterly destroy everything the people think they know
about their history.
She is the future … if she can unlock what is within her.
ASAMI AND GAIBUN
While Sendatsu searches for answers and a way back to his
children, his two childhood friends struggle to find a way to return him.
Asami is the most talented Magic-weaver Dokuzen has seen
in a generation. Once, all the people could use magic but the power has been
dwindling within them. There are few capable of more than a trick or two.
Devastated by Sendatsu’s refusal to defy his father and
run away with her, forced to see him marry for politics and not love, she has
thrown herself into her magic.
She agreed to marry Gaibun but it was not a union of love
and while they share a large home, they do not share a bed. She consoles
herself with dreams of a different Dokuzen, where who your clan and parents
were do not matter as much as your talents. The head of the Magic-weavers,
Sumiko, tells her that if she were to rule Dokuzen, things would be very
different – and this is music to Asami’s ears, although also treason,
punishable by death.
Gaibun’s father Retsu should have been Clan Leader, until
tricked and outwitted by Lord Jaken – Sendatsu’s father. And yet the two boys became friends. Gaibun
is desperately in love with Asami but has had to live with the knowledge she
sees him as but a friend and loves Sendatsu.
When their marriage turned his dream into a nightmare he
consoled himself with mistresses and devoted himself to the Border Patrol,
dedicated to keeping everyone else out of Dokuzen. Now working for Lord Jaken,
he has been promised much, not least the leadership of their clan when and if Lord
Jaken can take control of Dokuzen.
Sendatsu’s unwitting discovery of a revelation that could
destroy the very foundations of Dokuzen sets both Sumiko and Jaken’s plans to
rule into motion. Asami and Gaibun must somehow help return their friend and
avoid being drawn deeper and deeper into plots and conspiracies in the struggle
to rule Dokuzen.
