PREQUEL TO THE BEST-SELLING PENDRAGON CYCLE

Aurelia:

Last witness of an elder time, handmaid of the age to come.

It was a time of the end of empire. The world was in turmoil. The Romans were abandoning Britain, leaving the remaining servants of empire to try to stem the tide of chaos. Aurelia was one such, the child of a Magistrate, and wife of a Legate. The entire world was changing around her. How could she raise her sons to thrive in such a world?

Everywhere, it seemed, the old, well-ordered realm she had been born into was passing away to be replaced by . . . what?

It was that question her sons, Aurelius and Uthur—with the help of Merlin—were born to answer.

Monster Hunter International may have had its roots in the United States of America, but there are plenty of monsters in the big old world. And wherever there are monsters, humans will need monster hunters. Here then, stories of the things that go bump in the night and the men and women who bump back—focusing on the myths, legends, and folklore of Czechia, by Czech authors. Includes a new short story by Larry Correia.

As the Kingdom of Atlantis is extinguished forever, three ships emerge to bear King Avallach and his daughter Charis to the Isle of Glass, where Celtic chieftans struggle for survival—and power—as the last vestiges of Rome’s power dwindle.

In this myth-born land, one heroic figure towers over all, the Prince Taliesin. Together with Princess Charis, Taliesin will spawn the Kingdom of Summer, a kingdom of Legend, of Merlin and of Arthur…

Merlin, like his father, the Bard Taliesin, has a great mission. But his is the more difficult. Where Taliesin imagined the Kingdom of Summer in song, it falls to Merlin to bring it into existence.

Through a series of grave trials that tax his spirit and nearly destroy his body and mind, Merlin discovers how to bring the Kingdom of Summer into being.

What’s more, Merlin is being readied for his life’s work: to prepare the coming of the Pendragon, Britain's great ruler, Lord of the Summer Kingdom, and Lion of Logres.

They called him unfit to rule, a lowborn, callow boy, Uther’s bastard. But his coming had been foretold in the songs of the bard Taliesin. And he had learned powerful secrets at the knee of the mystical sage Merlin.

In order to bring about the Summer Kingdom—the reign of peace and prosperity foreseen by Taliesin—Arthur must first unite the petty British kings under his banner as High King and Pendragon of the Island of the Mighty. A period of intense warfare and considerable treachery follows with Arthur narrowly prevailing, greatly aided by Merlin’s guidance and counsel. But that is only the beginning…

Wave upon wave of barbarian troops, traitorously assisted by some of the defeated British kings, batter Arthur’s depleted forces. Once again, following an epic struggle against terrible odds, the High King prevails. Peace reigns, the Summer Kingdom flowers, but only for a season.

Soon Arthur will face his greatest test—a deadly trap set by the sorceress Morgian with his beloved Queen Gwenhwyvar as the bait…