Legends of Ethshar Series by Lawrence Watt-Evans
Legends of Ethshar #1
Tales of Ethshar (legends of ethshar)
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Ethshar? Some readers already recognize the name, but if you aren’t one of them, perhaps a brief explanation is in order. “Ethshar” is the invented world that has been the setting for almost a dozen novels from the pen of Lawrence Watt-Evans. Its inhabitants don’t call it that; they call it “the World.” For readers, though, that’s not specific enough. The dominant nation on the World is the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars, while the largest, richest city, where most of the stories are set, is Ethshar of the Spices, so “Ethshar” is close enough. The name itself comes from words meaning “safe harbor.” You don’t need to have read any of the novels to enjoy the stories herein; each one should stand alone. And if you've read the novels, you will enjoy this return to the world of Ethshar with 11 stories... This is the first time they have all been collected in one book!
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Legends of Ethshar #1
Legends of Ethshar #1
The God in Red (legends of ethshar)
Lawrence Watt-Evans
This short Ethshar story was written as our 2007 Christmas card, and then included as an illustrated chapbook with copies of The Vondish Ambassador that went to readers who had donated to the online serialization. Except for those chapbooks, it has never before been published. Here it is, to celebrate Christmas 2008.
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Legends of Ethshar #1
Legends of Ethshar #1
The Misenchanted Sword loe-1
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Ethshar and the Northern Empire have been at war for hundreds of years. Hardly anyone alive remembers why, or over what. The tempest, turmoil, and war are endless, and the killing more endless still. The war has become not just a way of life, but an institution; no one dares to dream that it could end. Not even Valder of Kardoret, Ethsharitic Scout, trapped behind enemy lines. But now everything has changed: at a moment of great need, a hermit wizard crafted Valder a magic sword called Wirikidor — a blade at once cursed and enchanted, a misenchanted blade that makes him unbeatable. Soon the tides of battle will turn, and once they’ve turned they’ll turn forever.
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Legends of Ethshar #2
With a Single Spell loe-2
Lawrence Watt-Evans
The apprenticeship of orphaned would-be wizard Tobas of Telven ended suddenly when his master died after teaching him only a single simple fire-lighting spell. Left with nothing else, he set out to make his way in the world — and found himself in a tiny kingdom he had never heard of, hunting a dragon to win the hand of a princess. Stumbling upon ancient magic and its beautiful owner complicated everything even further!
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Legends of Ethshar #3
The Unwilling Warlord loe-3
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Sterren was a street kid who made his living playing dice in the taverns of Ethshar — until an ill-tempered noblewoman showed up and informed him that he was the heir to the warlord of Semma. As warlord, it was his duty to defend the kingdom from two larger neighbors, and any attempt to dodge this obligation would be punished by summary execution. Sterren saw only one way to win this hopeless war he had had thrust upon him: Cheat by using forbidden magic.
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Legends of Ethshar #4
The Blood of a Dragon loe-4
Lawrence Watt-Evans
They told Dumery he had no talent for magic and could never be a wizard, so he set out to become one of the tradesmen to whom even the wizards had to humble themselves — a dragon hunter, supplying the dragon‘s blood the wizards needed for their spells. He saw a man selling dragon’s blood to a wizard and followed the man back into the mountains, hoping to convince him to take him on as an apprentice dragon hunter. He soon discovered, though, that things were not quite what he had thought...
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Legends of Ethshar #5
Taking Flight loe-5
Lawrence Watt-Evans
She was everything he wanted, and everything he had been promised. A fortune-teller’s prophecy had sent Kelder of Shulara to seek adventure along the Great Highway. He had been ready to give it up, and dismiss the seer as a fraud, when he met Irith. Irith was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was bright and charming and cheerful. And she had wings. Kelder tried to earn Irith’s love and respect. He tried to please her, and to fulfill the prophecy that seemed to say he would one day marry her. But as he came to know her, he began to realize that she was not quite what she appeared to be. She was not just a lovely young woman. She was not even entirely human. She had ruined men’s lives. And he needed to learn what she truly was before she destroyed him, as well. What he would learn, and where he would go, would makes its mark on the destiny of Ethshar.
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Legends of Ethshar #6
The Spell of the Black Dagger loe-6
Lawrence Watt-Evans
The means of making a wizard’s magical dagger was a closely-guarded secret, but Tabaea the Thief had spied on the lessons a wizard gave his apprentice, and thought she could do it herself. She was wrong. What she made was not a wizard’s athame, but something new -— and very, very dangerous. With the Black Dagger’s magic Tabaea thought she could have everything she had ever wanted. If people who got in her way died, that did not greatly trouble her. It was up to Lady Sarai, daughter of the Minister of Justice, to ensure that Tabaea’s mad plans did not bring down the entire Hegemony of Ethshar.
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Legends of Ethshar #7
Night of Madness loe-7
Lawrence Watt-Evans
The people of Ethshar had been calmly going about their lives until the night something happened, and thousands of people woke up screaming. Hundreds vanished, never to be seen again; many were seen flying away, never to return; and many of those who stayed behind found they had been blessed — or cursed — with a new kind of magic. And it fell to Lord Hanner, a minor bureaucrat, to try to find a place in the World for these new-made magicians — before the overlord or the Wizards' Guild exterminated them!
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Legends of Ethshar #8
Ithanalin’s Restoration loe-8
Lawrence Watt-Evans
What is an aspiring apprentice wizard to do when she finds her mentor and master frozen in his tracks by mysterious magics? Kilisha of Eastgate, a promising young student of wizardry in the city of Ethshar of the Rocks, still has much to learn before she can assume the robes of a journeyman enchanter. But when her teacher, the venerable Ithanalin the Wise, is overcome by a peculiar spell that scatters his soul amongst a collection of runaway household furnishings, it is up to Kilisha to find the cause and restore him to his former self. Kilisha goes first to the Street of Wizards, to beg assistance from the high wizard Chorizel. But a dangerous rebellion brewing in the East causes Chorizel to dismiss her pleas, and she is forced to continue on without guidance. Her desperate quest takes her from Ithanalin’s patron, the noble Lady Treasurer Nuvielle, to Kelder, the tax collector whose meddling has caused this calamity, and through the city’s dark taverns and shady shipyards to the mighty fortress keep of Wulran III, Overlord of Ethshar of the Rocks, all the way searching for that which will bring Ithanalin back from beyond. An exhilarating fantasy adventure from a master storyteller, Ithanalin’s Restoration is the eighth enchanting chronicle in the Legends of Ethshar.
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Legends of Ethshar #9
The Spriggan Mirror loe-9
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Everyone knows that the man to hire when you want something that's hard to find is Gresh the Supplier, so when the Wizards' Guild wants to retrieve the magic mirror that's responsible for the plague of spriggans, they hire him to find the mirror and deal with it. Gresh accepts the job — but no one said finding the mirror would be easy. And nobody said that dealing with it once it's found would be easy, either.
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Legends of Ethshar #10
The Vondish Ambassador loe-10
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Once, not so long ago,a warlock named Vond built an empire in the southern part of the Small Kingdoms. Vond is gone, but his empire survives under the rule of a seven-person Imperial Council and a young regent named Sterren. The Empire of Vond was hardly trouble-free after Vond’s departure. Its neighbors are understandably wary of further expansion, there are questions about how Vond’s magic became so potent, and so on. Most of the World, though, doesn’t care — Vond is off there in the southeastern corner of the World, far away from anywhere important. But one day a dockworker named Emmis watches a Vondish ship arrive in Ethshar of the Spices and finds himself hired as native guide and aide to someone who claims to be Vond’s ambassador plenipotentiary to the overlords of the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars. But who is the Vondish ambassador, really, and what is his true business in Ethshar? And who has followed him to the city?
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Legends of Ethshar #11
The Unwelcome Warlock loe-11
Lawrence Watt-Evans
The Calling. Sooner or later, it claimed every powerful warlock... a growing magical compulsion to go north to the mysterious land of Aldagmor that nothing could stop. None ever returned. Hanner the Warlock knew his days were numbered. The Calling pulled at him ceaselessly now, and his ability to resist had begun to crumble. So he determined to find a place where the Calling couldn’t reach him... another world, located through a magic tapestry. Every warlock knew that the farther he was from Aldagmor, the weaker the Calling was — and the weaker his magic was, as well, but that was only a secondary consideration. That weakening had given Hanner the idea to find, or make, a place so distant from Aldagmor that the Call couldn’t reach it at all. Unfortunately, the Call took him anyway. And that’s where his story really gets interesting. Because the Calling wasn’t what everyone believed. And when the warlocks who had been Called over the decades suddenly woke up again beside the object doing the calling — and found themselves without their powers — their world may never be the same!
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