THE GATES OF TWILIGHT
Paula Volsky
BANTAM Books, 1996
ISBN:0-553-37394-3 (paperback)
In a fragile alliance, the natives are stirring uneasily under their foreign rulers. Rebellion is
brewing, and at the heart of the conflict lies the bloody and powerful cult of the god Aoun, whose
followers will stop at nothing to rid their land of alien domination. So civil servant Renille vo
Chaumelle, scion of a proud, conquering line mingled with native blood, is conscripted as a spy
and ordered to penetrate the fortress-temple known as the Fastness of the Gods. There he is to
discover the secrets of the priests of Aoun and - if the chance presents itself - assassinate the head
priest, named in legend as the god's own son.
But in the holiest depths of the temple, Renille finds there is more to the cult than his superiors
suspect - far more than they will ever believe. What he learns leads him to the beautiful princess
Jathondi, daughter of a violent confrontation between the fanatic followers of a flesh-hungry god
and their arrogant overlords. Together, Jathondi and Renille must brave a whirlwind of
revolution and apocalyptic magic that could shatter a nation, and open the long-sealed portal
between heaven and earth.
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