Showing results by author "D K Holmberg" in All Categories

Ashan has returned to the Vard lands, becoming what his people claim him to be: a traitor. Now that he's connected to the power of Affellah, the king will stop at nothing to bring him back. That includes attacking Ashan's home and those he cares about. Once again, he must leave the Vard lands before he can fully understand the power of Affellah. Saving his people has already meant betrayal. Can he still find a way to be their Servant?

The Disciples of the Draasin Lord have again been defeated, yet a traitor remains within Terndahl. The Inquisitors have come, and their presence has everyone on edge. With the help of the Keystone, Tolan has discovered the ability to shape each of the element bonds. Now that he’s passed testing to the second level at the Academy, he finally feels as if he belongs. Still, he can’t shake the feeling that his shaping is different than others - and tied to the elementals.

Kanar Reas, an ex-soldier known as the Blackheart, hides a dangerous secret. Exiled from the Realmsguard, he wants nothing to do with the kind of magic that destroyed his life. That is until his team of mercenaries is offered a job they can’t refuse.

An ancient artifact that must be found... Terrifying creatures from dark and dangerous Incendin... And long-forgotten elementals again unleashed on the world. As an earth senser, Tan is tasked with helping guide the king's servant through the dangerous mountain passes in search of the artifact before Incendin can reach it first. But after losing his father to the war, Tan wants nothing to do with the king's demands.

A captured thief holds the key to the kingdom. Having learned the truth about the Dragon Thief and saving Zarinth, an impossible decision will bring Ty away from the only home he’s known. When a dangerous priest demands his help finding something the Dragon Thief failed to find, Ty must finish the job even the Dragon Thief had failed to complete, but must stay ahead of Roson James and the Dragon Touched. The prize will secure the Dragon Thief’s freedom, but there’s even more at stake than Ty can imagine.

Ty has bonded to a strange smoke dragon and trains as a Tecal. If he can’t control the connection, the dragon will be stripped from him so that another can use the power of the dragon in service of the kingdom, as the threat from Lothinal is not gone. When Roson James makes his move, Ty feels an increased urgency to understand how to connect to the dragon. Help comes from an unlikely source, but it might not be in time. This time, the kingdom is not the only target.

The empire remains in chaos following the last attack. Fes searches to connect to the newly raised dragon, wanting to find him before the Damhur attack again, but when he finally returns to the capital, he’s too late. War has returned to the empire in full. With dragons controlled by the Damhur attacking along the coast, the fire mages and Dragon Guard outmanned, Fes urgently needs to find a way to save the dragons - and help the empire. The search brings him to a foreign land where he uncovers ancient secrets in his quest.

With the threat of rogue elementals escaping from the element bond and fear of another attack by the Draasin Lord, life at the edge of Terndahl is difficult for Tolan. Without any magic of his own, he spends his days working as a carpenter’s apprentice. When an elemental attack draws the attention of the Inquisitors from the Academy, everything changes.

Fes has always longed for stability. Raised within the slums of the empire, taught to steal and hurt others to make his way, when he’s discovered by the emperor’s chief fire mage, he’s given a chance to use his particular gift for gathering lost dragon relics to become something more. An encounter with a priest in possession of a dragon bone reveals the existence of a new power that threatens to return the long dead dragons to the world. Chased by the dangerous enemies, Fes travels into the bleak lands of the Dragon Plains before others can reach it.

Having pulled off an impossible heist, Jonathan wants nothing more than to relax and take a few simple jobs as a distraction. But nothing is ever simple for the Dragon. When friends go missing, an old enemy returns, demanding Jonathan take a job even more dangerous than the last. If he refuses, new friends will suffer, but if he takes the job, Heziah may gain a power to overthrow the Society itself.

Trained to destroy sorcery from a young age, Imogen Inaratha left that life behind, having come to see magic differently. When her brother asks for help, she embarks on a dangerous journey - and must face a part of her past she wanted to forget. An encounter with one of the mythical Porapeth changes the course of the journey. Protecting him forces her to face dark magical creatures and a powerful sorcerer determined to destroy the Porapeth in his quest for even more power. To succeed, she must learn the truth of the blade she’d long thought she’d mastered.

Having passed his first test at the Academy, most believe Tolan has proved he belongs. Only Tolan knows the truth: that his shaping required power from the borrowed bondar — and possibly from the elementals themselves. If he can’t find a way to shape without one, he’ll be expelled from the Academy. When he intervenes to stop another attack on the city, he once again finds himself in the middle of the battle between Terndahl and the Draasin Lord. Worse, because of his continued reliance on the bondars, he begins to fear he might be responsible for releasing elementals.

Sam and Alec work to understand their connected magic, but the limited supply of easar paper limits them. Worse, Marin has again disappeared, leaving questions unanswered. How can they be ready for another Theln attack if they don't have an opportunity to train with their abilities? New power complicates everything. Sam wants to use it to continue taking jobs that will eventually buy her way into the nicer sections of the city, but Alec sees a higher purpose to their magic.

Poverty-stricken Finn Jagger would give anything to heal his ailing mother. With his father imprisoned, Finn has joined a thieving crew to earn the money he needs to save her. When the latest heist turns to disaster and lands him on death row, Finn’s future seems to be tied up with a noose. Until the king’s executioner claims him as an apprentice.

As apprentice to the master executioner, Finn struggles to understand his place in the city as he searches for truth in those sentenced. The job is more complicated than he had ever imagined. He’s proven his understanding of the basics, but for him to serve as an executioner - if that’s what he wants - he needs mastery. Distracted by his search for a way to heal his still ailing mother despite the hegen magic, he finds himself at odds with the master executioner.

A job pits Jonathan and his team against Heziah, where they finally find a way to fully rid themselves of him. Now jailed, Heziah is no longer a threat. The team can finally relax—and Jonathan can retire with his newfound wealth.

Finn has grown into the role of executioner, taking on more responsibility with each passing year. After thwarting another plot against the kingdom, he’s developed a reputation - and the attention that comes with it. When attacked investigating missing women throughout the city, Finn finds his list of enemies growing. After another high profile abduction, Finn’s newfound skills are tested trying to find answers before it’s too late, but an imprisoned man speaking the strange language of the Alainsith forces Finn and Meyer to divide their work.

For the first time since mastering his connection to the elements, Tolan fears an elemental. He's long advocated that the elementals were misunderstood, and tried convincing others within Terndahl to free them from the bond, but the appearance of Light has proven his mistake. Chasing the threat leads Tolan to take a dangerous journey, one that challenges all that he's learned of spirit and brings him back to the lands beyond the waste, where he discovers a secret hidden from the rest of the world for centuries.

The true spirit master remains at large. Tolan might be the only one able to stop him, but he must find the truth within himself first. The element bonds, for so long the primary way to reach the power of the elements, have been tainted. The threat Tolan has long feared has revealed himself but escaped before his plan could be stopped. Now, Tolan and his allies must travel beyond the waste to search for answers. The journey again takes him away from his teaching responsibilities.

Rsiran is a disappointment to his family, gifted with the ability to Slide. It is a dark magic, one where he can transport himself wherever he wants, but using it will only turn him into the thief his father fears. Forbidden from Sliding, he's apprenticed under his father as a blacksmith where lorcith, a rare, precious metal with arcane properties, calls to him, seducing him into forming forbidden blades. When discovered, he's banished, sentenced indefinitely to the mines of Ilphaesn Mountain.