An SF Gateway eBook: bringing the classics to the future.
After a meteor explosion, Rikardon wakes in a new body-and in a strange desert land named Gandalara, where a sacred gem known as the Ra'ira grants its owner the power to rule-or to destroy...
Victory is sweet-but for Rikardon and Tarani, it is all too brief. Although they have retrieved the sword of the Kings from the lost city of Ka, a savage battle with the vineh mars their journey back to Raithskar. These ape-like creatures were once controlled through the power of the Ra'ira. Now they pose a threat both to the cat-like sha'um and humanoid Gandalarans.
To restore order, Rikardon and Tarani must travel to Eddarta, where Tarani can use the Ra'ira against the increasingly vicious vineh. First she must face her treacherous brother, Indomel, and convince the Council to name her High Lord in his place. Indomel will not take such betrayal lightly, but another danger is about to reveal itself-a sinister and ambitious traitor who has been hiding in plain sight all along.
Randall Garrett (1927 - 1987)
Randall Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to ASTOUNDING and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s, and acted as mentor to a young Robert Silverberg. He is best known for his innovative Lord Darcy stories, which take place in an alternate version of our world where the Plantagenet dynasty never fell. He was married to fellow novelist Vicki Ann Heydron, with whom he wrote the Gandalara Cycle of fantasy books.