J. M. F. Hildebrandt

Reign of Madness (Chronicles of the Samuelson) J. M. F. Hildebrandt

In Ages past, the wizards and sorcerors, seers and witches, healers and enchanters of Terra fled the expansion of monotheism and science for a world already peopled by refugees from worlds uncounted. On Xeuxondra, Humanity?s magicians carved out an Empire where their children could live safely in their gifts. Eight centuries have passed and the Imperial House has fallen into decay. The latest in a series of bad Emperors, Josef XII, has ruled with cruelty, corruption, and madness. The Archpriest of the God of Vengeance has called a Convocation in the city of Armaconia to discuss what to do about the state of affairs. Into this situation falls two young men destined to steer the Empire and the world into the future. Despite his madness and cruelty, the wise and virtuous Empress, long disgusted by her husband, has managed to raise three children that give hope for the Imperial House of Pfalia. The eldest, Crown Prince Jan, is on his way to Armaconia to meet his betrothed. There he will discover a priesthood in rebellion, assassins out for his blood, a new love, a soul-mate unlike any he could ever have dreamed, and a burden of responsibility both unfair and inevitable. As Prince Jan is journeying to the Holy City of Armaconia, Josef Samuelson is endeavoring to escape arrest and conscription on Terra by the Paranormal Apprehension Squad. A magician from a long line of powerful practitioners hiding what they were, Josef uses an ancient spell passed down through the centuries to flee Terra for Xeuxondra, emerging over a lake near Armaconia. Taken in by the priesthood, Josef is thrust into a power struggle between the cruelty of Emperor Josef XII and the determination of the God of Vengeance?s Archpriest to free the Empire from his reign of madness. Young Samuelson finds a new home where he can be himself, a new family to protect and defend, and a friend closer than any the young man had ever known. Will the power of Josef Samuelson?s magic and the uncanny plotting of his supporters allow him to overcome the might of the Emperor of the Zauberin and the machinations of unseen forces that are converging on the Imperial Capital that has suddenly become the crossroads to the future of an Empire that has spanned eight centuries? Two young men thrown together have started down the path of a very strange destiny none can predict.