Posts with the custom taxonomy term Fisher-Mark E

The Slaves of Autumn by Mark E. Fisher

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408 – Ireland

In A.D. 408, an Irish king desperate to save his clan raids the Welsh coast for slaves and plunder. But when he steals Anwyn across the sea, a Roman patrician’s son embarks on an impossible quest to bring her back.

Macrath will do anything to save his clan, a people cursed after the red wolf appeared to him three years ago. When he returns from a disastrous raid, he pleads with Athairne, an outcast druid, for help. Athairne receives a vision from the Great Light that conflicts with one from Dagda, the traditional god of their Celtic people. But Macrath rejects the vision. He breaks an age-old taboo. He raids the shores of distant Britannia.

Anwyn’s a spunky lass looking forward to her marriage with Quintus, a Roman patrician’s son. But when the men of her family’s Welsh villa leave to seek help from the departing Roman legions, Macrath’s raiders steal her into slavery across the sea. Gradually, as Macrath shows her kindness and she realizes she’ll never see home again, she develops feelings for her captor.

When a distraught Quintus discovers his love has been stolen, he sets sail with men and weapons. He’s a skilled swordsman, but no one has ever returned from Hibernia, a wild and untamed land ruled by treacherous druids, powerful kings, and warring clans. They live and they die by the sword. They kill or enslave foreigners. And they sacrifice to pagan gods. Yet he vows to bring her back.

From the shadows comes the red wolf. Half again as large as any earthly carnivore, is it a supernatural creature as some claim? Macrath blames it for cursing his clan. Having tasted the blood of men, it now stalks both Macrath and Quintus.

Against such obstacles, how can Quintus ever find his betrothed? Even then, will he have to win her back? Will the Great Light save Macrath’s clan? Or will the red wolf undo everything?

The Slaves Of Autumn is not only a love story set in history, but a tense action adventure, an epic saga that will transport the reader from wealthy Roman villas to the thatch-roofed villages of ancient Celtic Ireland, and its world of deceitful druids, sword-wielding warriors, powerful kings, and early Christians.

The Stolen Scroll by Mark E. Fisher

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Medieval – Fictitious Kingdom

When a druid steals an ancient document holding the millennium’s-old secrets of the Tower of Dochás, young Machar is sent on a mission across the sea to find the thief and bring it back. What’s at stake? Only the key to ending the Dark Age that’s creeping across the Celtic world called Erde.

A Stolen Scroll Bearing the Secrets of the Ages.

Long has the secret society of Capulum scholars waited to understand the mysterious markings inside the Tower of Dochás, a structure so old its purpose was feared lost to the ages. Newly discovered documents hint that when the lost Scepter of Elyon sat in the Tower, hope, light, and prosperity shone on all the peoples of Erde.

Beneath the tumbled ruins of a forgotten temple, two scrolls appear. The first introduces the second. But as scholars work to understand the first, a druid masquerading as one of their own steals the second scroll and spirits it across the sea to distant Fjernshavn.

Now a great darkness is coming, spreading from the east, and the scholars discover that the lost scroll may tell them the location of the lost Scepter whose theft so long ago began the current Dark Age.

Machar mac Moan, the Cloaked Rider.

Young Machar mac Moan, the Cloaked Rider, has spent the last year riding across Ériu on missions for the Capulum. He’s weary, ready to sleep in his own bed with his dog at his side. But on his first night home, an anonymous rider knifes a cryptic message to his door: “Meet me at the Boar’s Head this very night. I will wait in the darkest corner. Come armed and prepared for a long journey.” Once again, the Capulum calls.

Thus begins a journey across the sea to Fjernshavn at the end of a cold fjord. Even before he lands, a druid cabal is planning his death. It’s a city where shapeshifters roam the night, where ordinary citizens disappear almost nightly, and where, it’s rumored, the druid cabal keeps a monster in a pit, a creature with an insatiable hunger.

Machar’s only help: A kindly cheese merchant and a beautiful serving wench, who’s attracted to Machar and who unwittingly puts herself in danger.

At stake is the future of the world. And if Machar can’t find the thief and bring back the stolen scroll . . .

Return to the Tower by Mark Fisher

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Medieval – Fictitious Kingdom

A THOUSAND LEAGUES FROM HOME

What’s left of the Company must now follow Tristan from their hidden camp in the druids’ dark realm, cross a thousand leagues of enemy-occupied lands filled with ancient horrors, and return Elyon’s great gifts to the Tower of Dochás in Ériu.

ANCIENT HORRORS AND THE BUTCHER OF BURGUNDIA

Only by returning the Scepter and Augury to the Tower can Tristan defeat the Deamhan Lord and end the darkness threatening to engulf the world. Before him lie an ancient horror released by the arch druid, the fatal enchantments of the red tent, a Cthyllin ice giant, and the arch druid’s ruthless ally—Gundovald, the Butcher of Burgundia.

A RACE TO THE TOWER

But the arch druid Faolukan has built a great fleet in Fjernshavn, and it’s a race to return home before enemy ships disembark their foul hordes on Ériu’s distant shores and destroy the Tower. Faolukan and Gundovald serve a Deamhan Lord who wants not to conquer, but to burn, destroy, and crush that fair country under the boots of his bespelled soldiers and shapeshifters.

If Faolukan destroys the Tower before Tristan arrives with the Scepter—all is lost.

And the darkness wins.

Into the Druid’s Lair by Mark Fisher

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Medieval – Fictitious Kingdom

A SECONDGREAT QUEST, EVEN MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE FIRST.

With the Scepter in his possession, Tristan, still posing as Prince Neil, leads the Company across a continent rife with magical entrapments, enemy armies, and ancient barriers. His goal—to seek Elyon’s second great gift that will lift the darkness from the Celtic world of Erde.

After their battle with the arch druid Faolukan, the Company seeks respite in the high mountain refuge of Ard Cúl Dín. But when priests translate the scroll that Tristan also brought back from Schwarzburg’s subterranean maze, they discover a secret lost for millennia—the nature and location of Elyon’s second legacy to the world, another artifact Tristan’s people failed to keep safe.

Coveting the incredible power of Elyon’s first gift, the priests seize the Scepter. Days later, as trebuchets pound the high walls, Faolukan’s armies swarm the slopes below the city. With the city’s fall imminent, one priest steals the Scepter and flees into the mountains.

AN IMPOSSIBLE JOURNEY INTO THE DRUID’S LAIR

As enemy armies close in, Caitir, Tristan’s newly betrothed, Ewan, his squire, and Machar, the Cloaked Rider, join him to again retrieve the Scepter before they can undertake the second journey. For only when both of Elyon’s bequests to the world are secure in Ewhain Macha’s Tower will light and hope return to Ériu.

Blocking their way is an army of shapeshifters and soldiers mesmerized by the Deamhan Lord’s spells. Somewhere beyond the distant Sfarsit Mountains lies their goal—in Cathair Duvh, a foul city on the slopes of volcanic Drochcarn; in dread Drochtar, a bleak land where Faolukan, the arch druid, reigns with magic and terror. In that realm, all serve the Deamhan Lord, a spirit of darkness whose presence strips even the bravest warrior of all courage and hope.

Thus begins the second great quest, a journey even more difficult than the first.

Quest for the Scepter by Mark Fisher

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Medieval – Fictitious Kingdom

A STOLEN SCEPTER, A WORLD IN PERIL

When the arch druid Faolukan stole the Scepter of Elyon, he plunged the medieval Celtic world called Erde into a Dark Age. But the prince who was prophesied to steal it back has been killed, and now nothing can stop the coming darkness.

ONLY ONE CAN BRING IT BACK

Orphaned Tristan slaves at his uncle’s forge and longs to erase the dishonor his wastrel father and harlot mother bequeathed him. When a squire discovers that Tristan is the prince’s exact double, the fate of Erde weighs heavily upon him. Reluctantly, Tristan agrees to masquerade as the savior prince, lead a chosen Company of nobles, and seek the Scepter across the sea.

Before riding from his forest village, Tristan tells his life-long friend Caitir she must stay behind. But this intrepid lass has other ideas. She stows aboard the departing ship.

AHEAD — A DANGEROUS TREK

Cryptic texts hint that the Scepter lies hidden beyond the Fell Bogs, haunt of mesmerizing marsh spirits. It’s even more distant than the oppressive dark forest of the Waldreich, reign of misshapen wolves and the treacherous, treetop-dwelling Naz. Into such dangers, Tristan’s Company must follow a trail of ancient clues.

ONE LAD AGAINST A POWERFUL SORCERER

In service to the Deamhan Lord, Faolukan pledges to stop the group with all the magic, sorcery, and monsters at his command, including Tristan’s worst fear—a dark, subterranean cavern where stalks the creature of shadows, the barghest whose name is Thrag.

But how can a mere blacksmith’s nephew and a cooper’s daughter ever hope to defeat the most powerful sorcerer the world has ever known? How can anyone stop the coming darkness?

The Medallion by Mark E. Fisher

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486 – Gaul/Ireland

Everyone knows Ty’s sister fell off the cliffs and drowned. But something—is it a feeling?—gnaws at him, driving him to search for her in barbarian Gaul. When Ty and his father visit the Ulster king in ancient, Celtic Ireland, Ty and his new friend, Prince Cairell, flee for the coast at midnight. Ty is attracted to Cairell’s mysterious sister, Sorca, who refuses to remain behind. Cairell’s brother pursues, planning to kill them all to secure his inheritance to the throne.

After Ty’s father, Taran, returns home, the druids plan sacrifices to the old gods. Too old to help, Taran knows only Ty can bring the clan back to the truth. But years pass. And where is Ty?

Ahead, the armies of Clovis, king of the Franks, drive the Romans from Gaul. How, amidst such chaos, can Ty learn the truth about his sister or win the heart of Sorca?

The Bonfires of Beltane by Mark Fisher

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bonfiresofbeltaneThe Bonfires of Beltane

432 – Ireland

Since before anyone can remember, Taran’s Celtic, island people have sacrificed children to Crom Cruach, the dread sun god. His whole clan accepts this atrocity, yet in his heart he knows it’s wrong.

Now, Taran is about to be inducted into his clan’s circle of leaders. He promises Laurna, his betrothed, he’ll hide his doubts. But at the ceremony beside the bent idol of gold, he can’t help but question the druids’ rule. He blames the clan’s miserable fortunes on Crom Cruach, calling it a demon.

As a result, the druids order his banishment. Instead of a wedding with Laurna, he faces a tearful parting. As a storm darkens the horizon,
Taran paddles his wee craft into a vast, raging sea. Thus begins Taran’s adventure in A.D. 432.

Beyond the sea lies ancient, Celtic Ireland. There wait the Roman evangelist, Patrick, and two kingdoms ruled by powerful kings and
their druid advisors. It’s a proud land where tradition is everything and travel through the wild can mean slavery or death. The druids will stop at nothing to remain in power and prevent Patrick and his followers from changing their ancient ways.

Will Taran find the spiritual truth he desperately seeks? Can he escape wrathful kings and conniving druids? Will he ever be able to return home and rejoin his beloved Laurna?