There were a few brief grunts as the Watchers subdued the guards in the gatehouse, and then a creak as the city gates opened wide to admit Jardir's host. When dawn's light began to fill the sky, they lowered their veils, that their enemies might see their faces. Men did not attack other men in the night. They gathered before the city, but the veiled warriors did not attack immediately. Even corelings gave berth to so many Holy Warriors on the move. As the greenlanders cowered behind their wards, the Krasians had braved the demon- infested night to advance. The advance guard of Jardir's elite warriors had come under cover of darkness, thousands of sandaled feet crunching the fallow, snow- covered fields surrounding the city proper. 'People so weak and negligent deserve to be conquered,' Hasik said. The Watchers didn't even need their steel-shod ladders most simply leapt to catch the lip of the tiny wall and pulled themselves up and over. Yet as old allegiances are tested and fresh alliances forged, all are unaware of the appearance of a new breed of demon, more intelligent-and deadly-than any that have come before.īarely ten feet high and only one thick, the entire city's defenses were less than the meanest of a Damaji's dozen palaces. Once, the Shar’Dama Ka and the Warded Man were friends. But the Northerners claim their own Deliverer: the Warded Man, a dark, forbidding figure. He has proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer, and he carries ancient weapons-a spear and a crown-that give credence to his claim. Out of the desert rides Ahmann Jardir, who has forged the desert tribes into a demon-killing army.

But is the return of the Deliverer just another myth? Perhaps not. Legends tell of a Deliverer: a general who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. The night now belongs to voracious demons that prey upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind half-forgotten symbols of power.

A Crash Course in the History of Black Science Fiction.200 Significant SF Books by Women, 1984-2001.

The desert spear series