Beaten down by despair, Adamโs every breath seems an exercise in futility. Alecia, the woman he loves more than life itself, is dead by his own hand. Most of those he counted as friends lie moldering in their graves. Hope itself flickers like a dying candle.
Only one chance remains to redeem himself and those he loves: The Talisman of Time.
Together with four companionsโan elderly mage, a love-sick librarian, an arrogant shipโs captain, and a bad-tempered dwarfโAdam sets sail in a desperate search for the mythical icon.ย Filled with malice and unforeseen death, the world beyond Tantris rivals anything Adam has yet endured. Unknown evils inhabit the shadowy corners of the earth; each one seeking his utter annihilation.
Adamโs journey toward atonement has just begun. Should he succeed, it is but one step on the road to a dark and terrible confrontation. At its end, the Dark Mage lies in wait, hungry for revenge.
D. Bruce Cotton grew up in a small rural town in central Kentucky. A certified bibliophile, when he wasnโt digging through the local storeโs latest delivery of comic books, you could usually find him camped out in a corner of the town library, avidly reading the literary masters: Isaac Asimov, Edgar Rice Burroughs and J.R.R. Tolkien. After graduating from college with a somewhat useless degree in English, he went to work for Uncle Sam, serving as a statistical clerk at a nerve gas laboratory, a public affairs specialist at a tank depot, and for 28 years as a writer and editor for PS Magazine, an Army comic book designed to teach Soldiers how to care for their equipment. Now retired, Bruce lives in Huntsville, AL, with his wife, Cindy, and Gracie, a 3-year-old standard poodle. Heโs the author of four books in the epic Dark Mage fantasy series: Magicianโs Heir, Magicianโs Return, Magicianโs Quest and Magicianโs Loss. To find more about these books and future additions to the series, go to https://dbrucecotton.com