Wayfarers Of Innis Aelga

About the Book

Fantasy

In the final book of the War of the Noses, Ranalt from Haverstock and her outlaw husband Tully set out for Longlea to market Gaethel ponies and race Ranalt’s horse against the Flournoy steeds. When Tully sells the Donnegan, too, Ranalt renounces her husband and goes after her horse. She sets him free from the stables at Hatton but is accused as a thief and thrown into the dungeons. There she is rescued by Lionel Marchand, tax inspector for Charles Cogniere, the Silver Duke.

Keina also travels from Adair to Longlea with Gabran, who is looking for his father Prince Aelfwyn, possibly lost at sea. On their journey Keina and Gabran promise to make a life together. Achren blesses their union at the new abbey of St. Stephens near Hatton where the king is holding his winter court. But when Gabran learns a letter from his father reached St. Denys near Kirkham, he leaves Keina behind. He believes he should protect her from danger and pestilence such as leprosy and a dancing mania, afflicting the lands through which he must travel. At the king’s court at Hatton Keina attracts the attentions of the king’s bastard Reynard Le Beau and begins to doubt Gabran’s promises.

Under Bernard Le Doux, the Flournoy king who captured the throne at the battle of Medford, peace has been established in Innis Aelga, but his taxes and new enterprises cause resentment among Gaethels and Weorcmen alike. Terrible blizzards and then floods trap all the wayfarers except Gabran in a tavern at Medford where a strange wild man from over the sea rift tells them the story of his travels. Meanwhile, Gabran has been commissioned by rebels to rouse the northern Gaethels and drive the Flournoy king from his throne. Messages delayed or lost, promises misinterpreted or broken, and dangers from storms and disease plague all the wayfarers until their final confrontation at the last battle of Longlea when the future of Innis Aelga is finally decided.