MR Ruari J McCallion

Lockeran MR Ruari J McCallion

Prince. Druid. Murderer. Madman. Twenty years after Innisgarbh, Prince Ciaran the Damned has been earning his nickname. When the Frankish King Clovis orders his death, Ciaran kills the assassins and steals the king's treasure, along with two of his best horses. He wants to go to Spain but finds himself impelled by supernatural forces to head to the cold, dark north - even his stolen horses refuse to carry him south. His Visions tell him that he must go to Britain, where his help is needed against an English foe - but all is not as it seems. Victims, Visions and bed companions repeatedly deliver an ominous threat: "When you play the Blood Red Game, you will lose!" But what is the Blood Red Game? Who is his opponent? And why does he have to play it at all? His bloodstained journey across two Frankish kingdoms is dogged by search parties despatched by the vengeful king and interrupted by mistaken identity, wrongful arrest and imprisonment. He encounters help from some unlikely sources, including a bereaved wolfhound, a young woman who shares his Gift of the Sight and a barmaid with a living to earn... It seems that, at every turn, he encounters attempted ambush, extortion, robbery, obstruction and even shipwreck. Eventually he makes it to Britain and meets Morwenna, the Lady of the Lake, at Ynys Witrin - the legendary Avalon - which is crumbling into dust. Gwenhwfar, the Lady's daughter, is convinced that Ciaran carries doom and disaster for their way of life. When he finally reaches the River Winwaed he joins with King Penda of Mercia and a host of allies, both British and English, who are preparing to deliver a final, crushing defeat to Oswy and his Northumbrian army. Penda wants Ciaran to use his Powers to give an irresistible advantage to Mercia - but not everyone is so keen on his help; there may be treachery in the Mercian camp. Ciaran finds himself confronting a terrifying enemy in a final Otherworld battle. An enemy he believed he had destroyed, years before. The final confrontation is climactic, terrifying and ends with a shocking twist. "When you play the Blood Red Game, you will lose!"