Brightly Burning
Mercedes Lackey
Daw Books, May 2000
ISBN:0-88677-889-1 (paperback)
With BRIGHTLY BURNING, best-selling author Mercedes Lackey returns again to her greatest creation-the fantasy world of Valdemar-at a time when this magical kingdom faces war with its most powerful enemy, the kingdom of Karse. In this turbulent age, a young man emerges who has abilities never seen before-a Gift so terrifying that even the Heralds, Valdemar’s magical protectors, fear him. Only three individuals-one Herald, one Healer, and one very special Companion-are willing to accept the challenge of training the youth who will become the most notorious Herald in Valdemar’s history: Lavan Firestorm.
When Archer and Nelda Chitard moved their family from a small rural village to the bustling city of Haven, it was cause for great celebration. After all, Archer’s success as a cloth-merchant and Nelda’s achievements as a fine needleworker had brought them the wealth to buy a fine townhouse in an exclusive section of their nation’s capital. And their skills had made them leaders among their Guilds, welcomed into the highest of Guild social circles.
But not everyone in the Chitward home was happy about this “improvement” in the family’s position, Lavan, their middle son, had no desire to be a cloth-merchant, needleworker, cloth-dyer, or anything related to his family’s Guilds. He didn’t really know what he wanted to be -except back home in Alderscroft! Lan longed for the wild, unconfined woods of his boyhood home, for the friends with who he had fished and hunted and played at being Heralds fighting the Karsites, or Guards capturing bandits. To make matters worse, his parents had enrolled him in and “exclusive” private school. IT was a place where the arrogant older students where expected to keep discipline, and, unbeknownst to the school staff, did through humiliation, physical abuse, and even whippings…
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