Publisher's Synopsis
Thousands of years ago, in what is now called The Middle East, there existed a grand civilization of men and women, warriors and slaves, savages and priests, wizards and witches. Named after its first king, the Empire of Urnamu stretched from the modern-day Persian Gulf to Baghdad and flourished in the fertile crescent of the land history calls Mesopotamia. In this primordial world humanity harnessed stone, copper, and bronze to build beautiful cities, craft exquisite artwork, and smith weapons and armor. Emyni duma Duseg is the thirteen-year-old daughter of Duseg the Mudbaker, a craftsman of fine bricks, who lives outside of the majestic Urnamu capital of Nun-Ki. After sickness took Emyni's mother from their family, her father is forced to raise the young girl on his own. But Emyni hides a secret, a powerful secret, that her father warns could get her taken away from him forever: she is a "Firedancer" - a child born with unfathomable magickal power - a power she desperately tries to hide to keep the family together. But when their home is attacked and her father is captured by savage slavers she is forced to use the power - an act of devastation that reveals her true nature to the world. With the help of a mystical court wizard, the dwarf Bes, and the King's most feared and skilled warrior, Mel'k, Emyni sets out to find her father and bring him home. Along the way she hopes she can learn to control the wild power that threatens to take control of her. As they travel they find new companions - some who could become friends and others enemies - and discover that Duseg's capture was more than just a random act of violence. Two mysterious men - one who is known only as The Viper; and the other a nameless, faceless, sorcerer - are directing forces aligned against them in a plot that could threaten the very existence of their civilization. And in the center of it all, like the eye of a storm, is an ancient relic of a forgotten Goddess that has untold power and a sinister purpose of its own.
