Companions on the Road

COMPANIONS ON THE ROAD and THE WINTER PLAYERS are two thrilling tales of adventure and quest by that rising star of fantasy literature, Tanith Lee.COMPANIONS ON THE ROAD is a chilling story of flight and inexorable pursuit, which culminates in an inevitable confrontation between Light and Darkness.The siege was over. The citadel of Avillis had burned through the night with its terrible Lord and his monstrous children in it. Nothing remained now but broken walls, charred stumps where trees had grown, tattered lattices open to the sky. But at the heart of the palace the great Cup of Avillis stood untouched: pure gold, crusted with jewels each worth an emperor's ransom. There was small wonder that Kachil, the common thief should covet it. Or Feluce, the dapper, arrogant rogue, for riches would mean much to him. But why did Havor of Taon, the hawk, join them to carry the cursed cup away? For it was Havor who found that the Chalice once stolen could not be lightly cast aside, even in horror and despair. For all the while, half-unseen, mere apparitions in his mind's eye, the three phantom riders followed after him across the desolate plain.But what is Havor's fate? What will be the outcome of the unavoidable clash of ghostly powers? Havor thought his story could have only one ending, but can the spirit world summon Forces of Light as well as Dark?Oaive, the young priestess of the fisherpeople, finds herself thrust into a desperate journey to recover an ancient and magical relic stolen from her shrine in THE WINTER PLAYERS.She distrusted him at once. She knew his words were lies. 'Call me Grey,' he said, but that was not his name, Fear gripped her like a hand.No one but the priestess could look upon the relics: the Ring, the Jewel and the Bone. It was for the Bone that this grey stranger had come. He was a thief, but she realized with a sinking heart that he was armed with as much magic as herself, and maybe more.The relics were secret, sacred. The people would never know that the Bone was gone. But Oaive knew that she must follow Grey, find and destroy him, even though it meant leaving her people with no one to say the Ritual, no one to read the Book of Lore. Beyond the mist, they called the shrine the House of the Bone; if the Bone was not there, the Ritual was meaningless. She could not know that there were three players in the game, and that the most dangerous was the last.