The Stone and the Maiden — Dennis Jones

There are many dangerous intrigues fomenting within the royal house of the pandragore - and a dark, devouring magic descending upon it from without.

Any or all of them could bring devastation to the realm.

Young Mandine Dascaris is next in line to occupy the throne of the Ascendancy - if a father's fear and a sister's mad ambition do not brutally deny her birthright. But now a bloodthirsty barbarian horde is cutting a scarlet swath across the lands. At the head of the invading army is a master of the dreaded Black Craft - a sorcerer returned from the dead, who has harnessed the most terrible magic the world has ever known.