A funny thing happened on the way to the battlefield.Arthur, High King of Brydein, must fight the last of the rebel kings to acknowledge his right to govern them all: his old nemesis, King Urien of Dalriada. Before he can lead his army to where Urien's forces sit ensconced, however, a fey man appears from the midst of a sudden, eerie storm to block the way. The man claims to be the high king of an altogether unknown land... and he wields uncanny power the likes of which Arthur has never seen.Garrin, High King of Helvar, steps into a patch of mist. A breath later, he's standing toe to toe with a man claiming to be the high king of an altogether unknown land... and this warrior-king is leading an army into Helvar, wielding a sword that resists Garrin's magic. Only, the man insists that his sword isn't enchanted, and that Garrin isn't in Helvar anymore.What the bloody hell-or five hells, in Garrin's case-is a high king to do?Their encounter reeks of an enemy mage's dark arts, and no one is laughing.
About the Author: KIM HEADLEE lives on a farm in the mountains of southwestern Virginia with her family, cats, fish, goats, Great Pyrenees goat guards, and assorted wildlife. People and creatures come and go, but the cave and the 250-year-old house ruins-the latter having been occupied as recently as the mid-twentieth century-seem to be sticking around for a while yet. She has been an award-winning novelist since 1999 (Dawnflight, Simon & Schuster) and has been studying the Arthurian legends for nigh on half a century. PATRICIA NOVAK lives in Alabama with her husband, Jim, two dogs, and more cats than she wants to count. Her short fiction has appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, Realms of Fantasy, Daily Science Fiction, a number of the Darkover anthologies, and several volumes of the Sword and Sorceress anthologies.
