The Castle Of Hape. Caves Of Fire And Ice. The Joining Of The Stone

 

FROM THE REVIEWS

 

Of The Castle of Hape

 

“The many episodes involving the race of winged horses are magnificently imagined.” --School Library Journal

 

Of Caves of Fire and Ice

 

“Moves into the past, the present, and the future . . . a mind-boggling time sequence.” --Alan Review

 

“Plenty of action here and a colorful, skillfully-depicted cast of characters.” —School Library Journal

 

“The well-delineated characters add life with the same effect that detail adds to a painting.” —ALA Booklist

 

Of The Joining of the Stone

 

“The dramatic climax in a series of five fantasies . . . Shirley Murphy satisfactorily draws together the strands (and her incredible images) of good and evil.” —Atlanta Journal and Constitution

 

“The portrayal of the evil forces, stark and frightening, is well balanced with Murphy’s theme about life being ‘flawed [but] . . . no less magnificent.’” —ALA Booklist

 

The Runestone of Eresu

 

by

 

Shirley Rousseau Murphy

 

 

Smashwords Edition

 

 

Copyright © 1980, 1981 by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

 

All rights reserved. For information contact webmaster@joegrey.com. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only, and may not be resold, given away, or altered.

 

 

This is the second of two volumes containing the books originally published as the Children of Ynell series. It includes The Castle of Hape, Caves of Fire and Ice, and The Joining of the Stone, and can be read independently of the first volume, The Shattered Stone.

 

 

Atheneum edition of The Castle of Hape (hardcover) published in 1980

Avon edition (paperback) published in 1981

 

Atheneum edition of Caves of Fire and Ice (hardcover) published in 1980

Avon edition (paperback) published in 1982

 

Atheneum edition of The Joining of the Stone (hardcover) published in 1981

Avon edition (paperback) published in 1983

 

Ad Stellae Books edition, 2011

 

Author website: www.joegrey.com

 

 

Cover art © by Corey Ford / 123RF

 

 

 

CONTENTS

 

 

The Castle of Hape

 

Part One: The Dark

 

Part Two: The Gods

 

Part Three: Telien

 

 

Caves of Fire and Ice

 

Part One: The Lake of Fire

 

Part Two: The Black Lake

 

Part Three: The Lake of Caves

 

 

The Joining of the Stone

 

Part One: Ramad’s Heir

 

Part Two: Heritage of the Dark

 

Part Three: The Joining

 

 

About the Author

 

 

 

The Castle of Hape

 

 

Part One:The Dark

 

The ages of Time rise and move onward as neatly as the waves of the sea move. Or do they? What is Time? Who is to say that each age moves forward in perfect symmetry and never is disturbed? Who is to say that Time cannot, as does the sea, tumble suddenly in a whirling rage so all is thrown asunder? So a time without end or beginning is formed spinning into itself, swallowing the unfortunate wanderer or displacing him.

To the countries of Ere, the ages are marked by rivers of fire belching from the dark mountains, fire that sends men to flee in terror then recedes to lie dormant once more, perhaps for generations.

Yes, in the beginning cities grew close to the sea away from the fiery mountains, and those few people who would venture inland were driven back by fire, or by maverick, blood-lusting raiders. No one would think to make a city or claim a nation at the foot of the Ring of Fire. Not until the man Venniver so ventured, laying out a town he called Burgdeeth at the foot of the willful mountains. He meant to build a city ruled by false religion, and he began with the labor of slaves: Seers, enslaved to work like animals. And when those Seers escaped Venniver’s shackles, they took themselves to the far coast, and they conceived a different kind of nation.

But the powers of dark fought that nation, fought its rise and its strengthening.

Was it that warring, between evil and light, that disturbed the warp of Time? Who can say? No man of Ere can say; and those snatched up into the spinning of Time do not speak to us now.

 

 

 

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