This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

- Dedicated to those who keep believing in me. And the old gods, of course. -

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

Greetings, and thank you for reading the book. The follow up to this book, The Horn’s Fate will be out in 2017. There is a sister series to this book, the Thief of Midgard and the first book, The Beast of the North, is available. I humbly ask you rate and review the story in Amazon.com and/or on Goodreads. This will be incredibly valuable for me going forward and I want you to know I greatly appreciate your opinion and time.

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OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR:

THE HRABAN CHRONICLES – NOVELS OF ROME AND GERMANIA

THE OATH BREAKER – BOOK 1

RAVEN’S WYRD – BOOK 2

THE WINTER SWORD – BOOK 3

THE SNAKE CATCHER – BOOK 4 (COMING 2016)

THE GERMANI TALES

ADALWULF

GOTH CHRONICLES - NOVELS OF THE NORTH

MAROBOODUS - BOOK 1

THE CANTINIÉRE TALES – STORIES OF FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEONIC WARS

JEANETTE’S SWORD – BOOK 1

JEANETTE’S LOVE – BOOK 2

JEANETTE’S CHOICE – BOOK 3 (COMING LATE 2016)

TEN TEARS CHRONICLES – STORIES OF THE NINE WORLDS

THE DARK LEVY – BOOK 1

EYE OF HEL – BOOK 2

THRONE OF SCARS – BOOK 3 (COMING 2016)

THIEF OF MIDGARD – STORIES OF THE NINE WORLDS

THE BEAST OF THE NORTH – BOOK 1

QUEEN OF THE DRAUGR – BOOK 2 (COMING 2016)

GLOSSARY

Able
– a French Ten Tear and Albine’s brother.

Albine
– the French girl and one of the Ten Tears and Able’s sister.

Aldheim
– the jewel of the gods, home of elves and the First World of the mortals, Aldheim is a beautiful world full of adventure and uncanny beauty.

Alexei Donskoi
– a Russian Ten Tear, Dmitri’s, and Anja’s brother.

Aloise Bardagoon
– wife of Almheir Bardagoon, the Regent’s wife, a lover of music and a lady in dire need of Shannon’s help.

Anja Donskoi
– a Russian Ten Tear, Alexei’s, and Dmitri’s sister.

Asfalon Bardagoon
– son of Almheir Bardagoon.

Baduhanna
– an Aesir general in Midgard

Ban
– the svartalfs king who follows the Masked One.

Bilac
– a Fury Whip of the Dark Clans, jailor, and teacher of the Ten Tears.

Cerunnos Timmerion
– formerly the Regent of Aldheim, the defender of the land.

Cherry
– a strange, mute member of the Ten Tears. Guardian of Shannon.

Coodarg
– a raised arch-mage

Cosia
– a Fury Whip of the Dark Clans, jailor, and teacher of the Ten Tears.

Dana Crowther
– utterly powerful member of the Ten Tears and Shannon’s driven sister.

Danar Coinar
– lord of the House Coinar, devious and driven.

Dancing Bay
– the waters of Freyr’s Tooth and Spellcoast. Dangerous and pirate ridden.

Dmitri Donskoi
– a Russian Ten Tear and Alexei’s and Anja’s brother.

Draugr
– raised dead with magical skills

Elder Shannon
– Shannon’s grandma, and a priestess of the old ways.

Eris the Old
– Queen of the Gorgons

Euryale
– the snake headed native of another world, Euryale is the captor of humans of earth, the creator of the Dark Levy, the mistress of her house of gorgons, and she has many devious plans. One of the First Born, just shy of the gods.

Eye of the Crow
– Hel’s eye, her sole contact to the lands and beauty she once knew, before forced to be the caretaker of the dead and the rot.

Famine
– the dagger of goddess Hel

Ferdan
– Elder Shannon’s overly religious friend.

Filling of the Void
– the beginning of everything, when ice of Nifleheim’s rivers and molten bridges of lava mixed in the void.

Fanged Spire
– once the palace of Cerunnos Timmerion, now home of Euryale.

Freyr’s Tooth
- the northern part of the elven kingdoms.

Ganglari
– servant of goddess Hel, shape shifter, and a lord of Helheim.

Gjallarhorn
– god Heimdall’s fabulous horn, used to open and close all doors.

Gray Downs
– once the island seat of House Timmerion, ruined by the Lord Cerunnos in the year of Sundering.

Gutty
– human mercenary and thief of Itax

Hand of Life
– goddess Frigg’s gift to the quarrelsome elven lands of Aldheim. Also called the Second Light, counselor of the Regent. Hand of Life was always thought to be an elven female, but Shannon proved the theory wrong.

Heartbreaker
– Kiera’s sword

Hel
– goddess of the underworld, keeper of the dead.

Hel’s War
– the war goddess Hel unleashed at the theft of the Eye of the Crow

Himinborg
– the great city of House Safiroon, close allies of the House Bardagoon. Himinborg guards the only land route to the Freyr’s Tooth and the noblest lands of the elves and hosts the sundered Gate of Svartalfheim. Lord of the House Safiroon is Talien Safiroon, an ancient, masterful Spell Lord.

House Bardagoon
– led by the Regent, Almheir Bardagoon, they rule over the majority of the holiest elven lands of the Freyr’s Tooth.

House Coinar
– the southern house and fourth in Aldheim, fabulously rich of trade and raids. Foes to the north.

House Daxamma
– the Holder of the Southern Passes, the high elven house commands more land than the other four great houses. The house stands in the mountain range to South Aldheim, where few elves venture since the Sundering. Often considered savage and less noble than houses of the Freyr’s Tooth and northern Spell Coast, Daxamma are deeply distrustful of the Regent and the other higher houses. Enslavers of humans, Daxamma use them freely in their armies and are ever the arm and muscle of House Coinar.

House Safiroon
– The second house of Aldheim, they hold the southern half of Freyr’s Tooth, the holy continent just north across straights from Spellcoast. Himinborg is their fabulous capital.

House Timmerion
– formerly the first house of Aldheim, the house fell into ruin in Hel’s war.

House Vautan
– the third house of Aldheim, they command the northern tip of Spellcoast and are allies of the Bardagoon’s and Safiroon’s.

Itax
– the Under Lord, a thief king of Scardark

Ittisana
– a gorgon with confused loyalties.

Jotun
– ice or fire, the giants hate the gods.

Kallista
– a svartalf Queen

Kiera
– the daughter of Almheir Bardagoon, and the undead servant of Shannon

Lex Cyburn
– one of the Ten Tears, the conciliator, and the one who loves Shannon.

Ljusalfheim
– home of house Bardagoon, the first house in the northern half of the elevated continent of Freyr’s Tooth. There stands the Hall, Freyr’s Seat.

Maa’dark
– Gifted Hands. Spell casters who can see and use the power.

Marxam Daxamma
– lord of House Daxamma, uncannily tall and less wise than other of the five, nonetheless a lord of much power.

Medusa
– Euryale’s and Stheno’s sister. Lost in Midgard.

Morginthax
– a dragon with honor

Nifleheim
– land of primal ice, home of the nine frozen rivers and Hel rules the land, in addition to Helheim that is located in this land.

Nött
– the goddess of the night, Queen of Svartalfheim

Ron Cyburn
– one of the Ten Tears and a thug. Saa’dark – Dead Hands. Sacrifice of worth to gain power.

Scardark
– the great city of Vastness

Serpent’s Run
– the sea-lanes near Vagabond’s End, rumored to host a great serpent.

Shannon Crowther
– the human Hand of Life, healer, and a miracle in Aldheim.

Shinna Safiroon
– the eldest child of Talien Safiroon, Shinna is to one-day rule Safiroon holdings. She is to marry the eldest of house Bardagoon, Asfalon Bardagoon, to cement the alliance between the two houses of Freyr’s Tooth, the noblest of the elven houses.

Silver Maw
– armor of the Hand of Life.

Skills
– the power of creation often grant those humans entering Aldheim skills that are not spells.

Spellcoast
– the vast continent of the elven nations.

Stheno
– Euryale’s sister.

Svartalfheim
– the land of the dark elven and dwarven races.

Talien Safiroon
– as old as Almheir Bardagoon and Danar Coinar, Talien has ruled the southern half of Freyr’s Tooth for thousands of years, shrewdly navigating the schemes of House Coinar and Daxamma, guarding the north for the Regent and his allies to the south, House Vautan. He is the father of four elven boys and one daughter, Shinna Safiroon.

Thak
– a fire jotun, a giant.

The Dark Levy
– a levy of the troubled of the earth to travel bi-yearly to another world, where they discover who they really are. A device of Euryale seeking for something specific.

The Gates
– the ways gods built to cement the Nine together. Lost since Hel’s war.

The Houses
– elven lands are divided into thousand houses. They compete fiercely and challenge each other into a game of power. The top five command the loyalty of the rest and this division makes up the power division of Aldheim.

The Nine
– the nine worlds the gods claimed at the time of the Filling of the Void.

The Sundering
– the tumultuous event of the closing of the gates during Hel’s War.

The Tenth
– the land of the Timmerion, our earth, the world elven houses tried to make for themselves, hoping to be like the gods. Home to the Dark Levy, humans whom the Timmerion’s once manipulated so they could touch the power.

Trad
– house Vautan’s fabulous capital on the Spell Coast.

Ulrich Cyburn
– an Austrian member of the Ten Tears, foe of Dana. Vagabond’s End – pirate islands of the Dancing Bay.

Vanir
– gods and goddesses allied with the Aesir.

Wild’s Coast
– after the Sundering, the eastern Aldheim was thrown to anarchy. Few know what is taking place in the formerly glorious elven kingdoms.

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