Madman of Ghavier — John Salonia

AN IMMORTAL MADMAN GUARDS A WORLD-SHATTERING SECRET Stripped of his staff and the companionship of Tierny and Rutha, Albaric Corwen must undertake a dangerous journey to the sinister mountain of Ghavier. There he must learn a vital lesson from Khareth the madman, whose food is too terrible to name. The mad hermit reveals the terrible beginning of the world Albaric has always taken for granted - and the forbidden secret origin of the Starborn race. Puzzled and doubting, Albaric shares the secret with Tierny - with catastrophic results. Tierny flees from the horror of the revelation. From horror-haunted crypts deep below the earth to the torture chambers and extermination-camps of the genocidal Baron Elgar of Trond, who hates all Starborns as a contagion; from posing as a professional assassin to serving as a spying court jester, Albaric searches the world for the missing Starborn. He has his heart set on finding Tierny - and Rutha has her heart set on ending the stalemate with her Starborn rival once and for all, while she has Albaric alone to herself in the wilderness. The ultimate challenge waits at the journey's end, for Tierny has been enslaved by a monstrous master whose chains none have ever broken - and lived . . . MADMAN OF GHAVIER is Volume 3 of WIZARD OF EARTH'S END. Although fitting into an over-reaching story arc, each volume in the series is a complete story in itself, and can be read on its own. The 8-volume WIZARD OF EARTH'S END series consists of: THE STAFF AND THE STONE QUEST FOR THE HYDRA MADMAN OF GHAVIER THE HOUNDS OF CHAOS THE SHORES OF SARGOTHROND THE SILK MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER THE CHAMPION OF NIGHT APPARITIONS AND OTHER DARK DOINGS