Curse of the Mistwraith The Wars of Light and Shadow #1 Janny Wurts HarperCollins 1993

Curse of the Mistwraith The Wars of Light and Shadow #1 Janny Wurts HarperCollins 1993

Athera is beseiged by the Mistwraith, which blights the land and dims the mysteries still guarded by the last fugitives of the old bloodlines. Hope springs from the ashes of a dark age: the paired gifts of two brothers, one dark, one fair, raised on opposite sides of a relentless war and both heirs to a broken legacy, may challenge the Mistwraith's invasion, though at brutal cost....

Arithon, Master of Shadow, musician and mage, commands the power of illusion and darkness. Taken prisoner in battle, his fate falls to his half-brother, Prince Lysaer, endowed with the gift of light through the mother they share and legitmate son of a king betrayed by her choice to father Arithon by his mortal enemy.

Vengeful fury drives the king to banish both Lysaer and Arithon to the troubled realms of Athera beyond the Worldsend Gate. The two exiles are thrown together by hatred and spilled blood - then bound by destiny to champion Athera's sundered heritage.

The highest stakes ride the backlash of their conflict they must reforge their adverse ideals into balance, or destroy the etheric grace of a culture all but lost to antiquity.