The redemption of Althalus

The Redemption of Althalus Here in a single volume is a completely new and self-contained epic from the modern masters of fantasy. The Redemption of Althalus is set on the grandest scale in an entirely new, magical world. Althalus - burglar, armed robber and occasional murderer - is commissioned to steal a book by a mysterious cloaked stranger named Ghend. Althalus sets off to the House at the End of the World where the book is kept - after stealing Ghend's cloak; after all, winter is coming on. At the House at the End of the World, in the same room as the book Ghend described, he finds a talking cat. What he can't find once he's in the house is the door by which he entered. And Deiwos marked that awful edge with fire to warn all men back from Daeva's abyss, and then he rested there in his keep and communed with his Book while time continued her stately march. By the time he manages to escape - with the cat, Emerald, in the hood of his (Ghend's) cloak - Althalus can read. He's read the Book of Deiwos, and discovered a tool mightier than the blunt instrument he once used to disable his victims. But there is another Book, written by the god Daeva who is the evil brother of Deiwos, and who is trying to unmake the world. And Ghend lifted his face and looked upon Althalus with his burning eye. And the eyes of Ghend seared at the soul of Althalus. And Ghend spoke then, saying, 'It is of little moment, my thief. 'Run, Althalus, run, and I shall pursue you down the nights and down the years, and the Book shall avail you not, for I shall deliver you up to the throne of 'Daeva'. Emerald is in fact the sister of the two conflicting gods, and her intention is to use Althalus to stop Daeva returning all of them to primordial chaos. Althalus will teach her what she needs to know, which is how to lie, cheat and steal - 'Whatever works,' Emerald reflects - and in return she, more amazingly, will teach Althalus truth, justice and morality. The forest was dark and tangled, and the sky was steely grey. Althalus had lost his way, though he could not remember exactly where he'd been going before. The hollow sound of wailing blotted out his thought. 'She comes,' the trees sang. 'She comes,' the vines replied. 'Fall down before her in abject surrender!' The existence of the world hangs in the balance in this fabulous and extraordinary story of The Redemption of Althalus. the rogue destined to steal the hearts and minds of readers.