The Cold

Relating the Arrival of the People of the Sea and What Happened Thereafter

White Island, a placid center of trade untouched by war for many centuries, is jolted by the appearance of the People of the Sea, a race of mermen vaguely remembered from ancient legends whose underwater world is being destroyed by the worsening cold. Trade with other islands on Innamagna, a world of islands and seas, languishes and unrest worsens as White Island falls into the grip of a relentless winter. The region of Boone revolts and the King sends his military leader, Lord Marnix, to suppress the rebellion. In the turmoil, the court poet Ormeville falls into disgrace and travels deep into the uncharted forests and mountains of Wyr province in order to offer his services to the Necromancer Boll, a wizard and dragon master who intends to use his army of dragons to assume power on the island. Ormeville becomes Boll's tool in this struggle.

Just then, the King's daughter, Princess Io, is swept away by the sea. The King blames the People of the Sea and declares war on them. However, the merpeople have saved the Princess and taken her to House Bayard on the south coast, an architectural wonder left over from the Unrecorded Times and home of the Master of Bayard, an ancient family of scientists and inventors. Here, the Princess learns that she has a vital role to play if the world is to survive at all. A malignant force is spreading the Cold from the eternal snows in the north. She must travel there and use her gifts, of whose power she herself is unaware, to help overcome it.

And all the time White Island, torn by superstition and anarchy, is becoming colder.

As all this goes on, a local farm child, Laury, whose parents were killed by Boll's dragon riders, now of an age to take revenge, decides to kill Boll himself. She travels into the dying forests of Wyr, finally reaching and penetrating the Necromancer's stronghold.

Meanwhile, Princess Io and the Master of Bayard travel north aboard the Lord of the Seas, an underwater vessel left over from the Unrecorded Times, in order to vanquish the Cold.

Princess Io's pleasant life at court is gone forever and she wonders how they can possibly succeed...

Approx. 107,000 words

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