Green Pearl (Lyonesse Series)

King Casmir of Lyonesse has one driving ambition: to sit on the throne Evandig as lord of all the Elder Isles. Aillas, King of Troicinet and now of South Ulfland as well, is determined to thwart Casmir's plans. To do so, he must assert his own authority by protecting his new territories from the scheming barons and from the predatory Ska, a race of fiercely xenophobic warriors who have ravaged the Ulflands for generations. Weeding out the treacherous nobles, Aillas prepares to fight the Ska with an Ulfish army strengthened by Troice discipline and fair reward. Yet while his initial efforts are successful, he risks disaster by impulsively riding off after an escaping Ska lady - Tatzel, who had first aroused his interest long ago when he was a slave in her father's house. Separated from his army, Aillas is forced to take his captive - as dangerous as any of her male kin - on a hazardous journey across Ska-infested North Ulfland in hopes of reaching the capital and the doubtful protection of it's enfeebled and eccentric ruler. Meanwhile, a baffled Casmir has begun to tease apart the strands of the prophecy that declares his daughter's son the future king of all the Elder Isles. Believing Suldrun's child to have been a girl, Casmir has long discounted the prophecy. But now he is beginning to wonder. His spies have learned that a mystery surrounds the parentage of Prince Dhrun, son and heir to his arch rival, Aillas, and he is determined to unravel it. Knowing that Aillas's ward, Glyneth, may have the answer, Casmir sends his more-or-less tame magician, Visbhume, after her - Visbhume, who will have no scruples in his dealings with the girl...