C M Bratton

The Dragonlady Trilogy C M Bratton

2017 WINNER BEST DARK FANTASY SERIES by the Texas Association of Authors - Now in an epic single volume - THE DRAGONLADY TRILOGY + two bonus stories! SAND: THE WAY OUT - In a world where Good has been subdued and Evil reigns, old powers stir... Deadforce rules in a decaying land, and Magick has grown weak. Atop his fortress of ice, the High Overlord sits secure on the decadent, agony-powered throne of his empire. Only in dreams does a thread of dragonforce live on. Across the continent, a captive laborer Remembers hope and begins to dream. Yet to find the absent dragons and restore the Balance, this slave must risk everything to escape, enduring pain, humiliation, and haunting visions of the past. But will the price become too high - and the scars too deep - before finding the way out? STONE: THE WAY IN - The mer slave Rane has managed to accomplish the impossible: escape. But true freedom remains elusive as long as the Draond Empire endures and the dragons remain gone. Rane must survive the wasteland to reach the mountains, where the elusive witch Naris lives. Naris is Rane's last chance at freeing the Yinn's, but all is not as it seems. The only true hope left is to find the dragons and free them - a task Rane must undertake alone. But far to the North, the High Overlord plots, preparing for the return of the dragons and what it might mean: the return of the Dragonlady. Yet he remains undefeated, for he has not forgotten the rules of the Balance: those who channel must choose. And not all choices lead to the paths of the dragons. ICE: THE WAY WITHIN - Rane has been captured and taken to the heart of the Draond Empire, where she is placed under the control of the High Overlord Cailenn. Unwilling to hurt the dragons to which she is Bonded, Rane willingly undergoes torture and manipulation as Cailenn attempts to turn her into another draond. Rane finds her very essence torn asunder as she struggles between dragonforce and the darkness she has always felt pulling inside her. But in order to give in to the Overlord and end her torment, she must betray the dragons and the essence of who she has struggled to become. The battle rages within her, spilling over until the dragons themselves and an army of allies confront the draond forces for a final time. Horrifyingly outnumbered, the dragons must wait as Rane and Cailenn face off in a far subtler war - one which will end in either the death of the dragons, or the defeat of the draonds. Yet either choice results in the greatest sacrifice Rane has ever had to make...