SOME DAYS IT JUST DOESN'T PAY TO
GET OUT OF YOUR SLEEPING BAG.
The successor to March Upcountry
It wasn't so much that Prince Roger and his surviving remnant of elite bodyguards are marooned on a barbarian planet. Or that they have been on continuous operations for so long they are getting shocky. Or that they still have half a planet to cross. Or that they are basically out of ammunition for their plasma and bead rifles and just about out of cash. Sure, those are all problems, but they're not the real problem.
No, the problem is Roger is in love. With one of his bodyguards. And the romance is not going well. Damnbeast Sure. Vampiric moths Okay. Screaming waves of barbarians No problem. But when you have Nimashet Despreaux and Prince Roger Ramius Sergei Chiang MacClintock at sword's point, that's real danger.
And it's just the beginning.
To get to the distant port that is their only way off the planet, they'll be forced to battle enraged monsters, displaced mercenaries, religious fanatics and a barbarian horde to shame the Huns. Along the way they'll have to recreate the Reformation, the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. And do it all in a context their four-armed, horned, grizzly-bear sized native allies can handle.
It will strain all their experience and knowledge, as the most elite, the most multitalented and above all the toughest bodyguards in human space. But the really hard part will be keeping Roger and Nimashet from killing each other.
Andre Norton-Grand Mistress of science fiction-presents a grand tapestry of the far-flung interstellar future, in which the first starships from Earth have burst out into the universe . . . only to run straight into the restraining grasp of the stagnant alien federation known as Central Control.
Only as interstellar mercenaries can humans go to the stars; the aliens who already dominate the galaxy allow no other recourse. But when Swordsman Third Class Kana Karr and his comrades-in-arms are betrayed and abandoned on a hostile world by their alien masters, the warriors from Earth begin a desperate but glorious march across a planet whose every sword is against them. Their actions may doom humanity's future . . . or lead the way to an empire of their own!
Four thousand years later, galactic civilization is collapsing, and the underfunded crew of an exploration starship is forced to set down on an uncharted planet: a mysterious, abandoned world that is achingly beautiful-and hauntingly familiar. Ranger Sergeant Kartr, telepath and stellar Patrolman, searches with his crewmates for the source of a beacon which may mean escape for them all. What he finds is far stranger: the first clue to what may become the greatest revelation in galactic history!
The defining events of future historyas only Andre Norton could tell them!
Publisher's Note: Star Soldiers has been previously published in parts as Star Guard and Star Rangers. This is the first unitary edition.
Hekate's father is the most powerful mage in Ka'anan, so when lie commands her to murder the queen of Byblos and marry the king, she must obey or flee. When she learns from the seer Dionysos, whom she had hound herself to protect when he was an infant, that her father has summoned an otherworldly being to bespell her, she flees to the Caves of the Dead. There her father's magic is powerless.
But the Caws are barred by a spell of terror and revulsion. Enraged by her agony, Hekate swears she will punish her father-and is twice bound.
Before despair destroys her, Kabeiros rescues her by breaking the terrible spell, but Hekate cannot remain in the Caves. Unsatisfied, her bindings will kill her, and she must learn new magic far from her father's influence to loose them. Yet when she learns that Kabeiros cannot accompany her because he changes into a black dog; if he leaves the Caves, Hekate swears to free him from his curse-and is thrice bound.
"[Bull God] is a lavish, rich novel filled with the machinations of the gods, and the terrible implications their intrigues have on the world of mortal men and women. Gellis brings Aridane to life and portrays the Minotaur as victim as well as monster. Let's hope the world of fantasy can steal Gellis more often." —Science Fiction Chronicals
"Ms. Gellis utterly captivates the reader . . . soul-stirring adventure . . . just the things for readers in search of something wonderful." —Romatic Times
"Ms. Gellis has become an extraordinary mythteller. She's never been in finer form. Treasure this." —The Paperback Forum
A voice, an icy, whispering voice, came out of the darkness from all around her; from everywhere, yet nowhere. It could have been born of her imagination, yet Rune knew the voice was the Ghost's, and that to run was to die. Instantly, but in terror that would make dying seem to last an eternity.
"Why have you come here, stupid child " it murmured, as fear urged her to run away. "Why were you waiting here For me Foolish child, do you not know what I am What I could do to you "
Rune had to swallow twice before she could speak, and even then her voice cracked and squeaked with fear.
"I've come to fiddle for you-sir " she said, gasping for breath between each word, trying to keep her teeth from chattering.
The Ghost laughed, a sound with no humor in it, the kind of laugh that called up empty wastelands and icy peaks. "Well, then, girl. Fiddle, then. And pray to that Sacrificed God of yours that you fiddle well, very well. If you please me, if you continue to entertain me until dawn, I shall let you live, a favor I have never granted any other. But I warn you-the moment my attention lags, little girl-you'll die like all the others and you will join all the others in my own private little Hell."
