AustLit

'In the isolated traders’ town of Greystone, two young thieves named Wilt and Higgs scratch out a living on the street. Both have quick minds and even quicker fingers, but Wilt has another weapon: an ability to sink into others’ thoughts, reading them, knowing before they do what action they will take.

'Such power is not easily hidden when the Prefects of Redmondis come through town on a pilgrimage to recruit skilled ones, wielders, those who have an affinity with the secret welds that join all living things.

'For a shadow is spreading across the land, a strange dark power that uses its victims’ fears to drive into their minds and suck their life away. The Nine Sisters of Redmondis sense this threat, and have a prophecy that one will come, one who understands and controls the power of the blood within the stone. One they hope to rule and use for their own ends.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Despite the victory over Cantor Cortis, the dark power still spreads. Nightmare creatures are wiping out villages all along the southern edge of the wild Tangle forest, causing a stream of refugees to flow into the capital of Sontair in the hope of finding protection.

'All who helped overthrow the Nine Sisters of Redmondis have been touched by what they experienced and those they lost. Dark visions sap Petron and Daemi’s strength even as they try to heal the rifts within Redmondis and forge a new path for the wielders, crafters and guards who make up its three main schools.

'Wilt must enter the Tangle to seek out the source of the power that calls to him. Visions of the past seen through other eyes haunt his days, and he finds it harder and harder to resist the pull of his wraith form.

'The Guardian is old and weak, and the Tangle is no longer secure…'

Source: Publisher's blurb.