The Standing Dead The Stone Dance of the Chameleon #2 Ricardo Pinto Tor Books 2002

The Standing Dead The Stone Dance of the Chameleon #2 Ricardo Pinto Tor Books 2002

Trapped by Empress Ykoriana, Carnelian and Osidian are drugged and carried out from the hidden crater of Osrakum in funerary urns. The man charged with disposing of the urns instead opens them and, seeing the two masters, fears for his life.

Disquising them as slaves, he flees with the to the south, where he hopes to sell them and so buy himself a new life. ut this is not to be. On their journey, they are attacked by raiders, barbarians from the southern plain they call the Undersky, who seize Carnelian and Osidian. Eluding the pursuing legions of the Masters, and enduring terrible hardships, the raiders succeed in bringing their prize captives home to their tribe.

At first wary of the two young Masters, the tribe become accustomed to them and, in turn, Carnelian grows to love these people and immerses himself in the seasonal rhythm of their lives. Osidian reacts differently, however.

He can never forget that he is a Master, and that he has been cheated of his throne. Violence and corruption begin to make their insidious way into the tribe's gently society and their world begins to unravel. Dark, unexpected and unbidden forces begin to surface. Struggling with conflicti