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They were the Cheysuli, a race of magical warriors cited with the ability to assume animal shape at will. For centuries they had been allies to the King ofHomanc, treasured champions of the realm. Until a kings daughter ran away with a Cheysuli liege man and caused a war of annihilation against the Cheysuli race.

Twenty-five years later the Chesuli were hunted exiles in their own land, feared for their sorcery, their shapechanging.

This is the story of Alix, the daughter of that ill-fated union between Homanan princess and Cheysuli warrior, and her struggle to master the call of magic in her blood, and accept her place in an ancient prophecy she cannot deny.

For five long years the land of Homana had been strangling in the grasp of a usurper king--its people ravaged by strife, poverty and despair; its magical race, the Cheysuli, forced to flee or face extermination at the hands of their evil counterparts, the sorcerous llhini.

The time had come for Prince Carillon, Homana's rightful ruler, to return from exile with his Cheysuli shapechanger liege man, free his land from the evil domination of the tyrant Bellam and his villainous magicians, restore the Cheysuli to their rightful position of grace, and claim his birthright. To do this, he would not only have to raise an army, but overcome the fear and prejudice of an ignorant population and answer the call of a prophecy he never chose to serve.

For decades, the magical race of shapechangers called the Cheysuli have been feared and hated exiles in their own land, a land they rightfully should rule. Victims of a vengeful monarch's war of annihilation and a usurper king's tyrannical reign, the Cheysuli clans have nearly vanished from the world.

Now, in the aftermath of the revolution which overthrew the hated tyrant, Prince Donal is being trained as the first Cheysuli in generations to assume the throne. But will he be able to overcome the prejudice of a populace afraid of his special magic and succeed in uniting the realm in its life-and-death battle against enemy armies and evil magicians?

Niall, Prince of Homana, key player in a prophecy that spans generations, should have been the treasured link between Cheysuli and Homanan. Yet neither of the peoples he is destined to someday rule feel anything but suspicion of Niall. Homanans fear him for his Cheysuli heritage, while Cheysuli refuse to accept him as their own because he has acquired neither a lir-shape nor the lir companion which is the true mark of the Cheysuli shapechangers.

And now, despite his precarious situation within the kingdom, Niall must undertake a journey to fulfill yet another link in the ancient prophecy. He must travel through war-torn lands to claim his bride--a mission which may prove his doom. For searching for both his destiny and his lir, Naill is about to be plunged into a dangerous maelstrom of intrigue, betrayal, and deadly Ihlini sorcer.

Brennan, Hart, and Corin, the three Cheysuli sons of Niall, ruler of Homana, and the next link in the generations-old prophecy o the Firstborn. Now the time had come or all three to take the paths for which they were fated:

Brennan, the oldest, was heir to the throne ofHomana. Yet before he could claim his proper place he would face the menace of unknown assassins and treacherous Ihlini magic.

Hart, Brennansyounger twin, must journey to Solinde, the kingdom which would one day be his to rule, a land won forHomana by the sword and one that longed to see the Cheysuli prince overthrown.

And Corin, the youngest prince, must battle sorcery and madness in the court of distant Atvia, his by birthright, but a birthright challenged by the power of evil Ihlini enchantments.

Three princes, three destinies--and ff even one should fail to fulfill the patterns of prophecy, Homanan and Cheysuli alike would pay a deadly price.

She is Keely twin sister to Corin, and, daughter of Niall, the ruler of Homana, and she alone has the power to shapechange into any form, a power akin to that of the Firstborn. And like her brothers, Keely has been chosen to play a crucial part in the Firstborn s prophecy. Yet Keely a true daughter of the Lion, is no weak pawn to be used in men games of power and diplomacy. Trained alongside her brothers in the art of war, gifted with more of the old magic than most of her close kin, she will not easily give way even to Niall's commands, nor be forced against her will into an arranged marriage.

But others besides Keely's father have plans for her future. Strahan, the most powerful Ihlini sorcerer, is already preparing a trap from which even one as magic-gifted as Keely may find no escape.

And in the deepwood, another waits to challenge Keely, an outlaw fully as dangerous to her future freedom as Strahan is to her life.

Aidan, only child of Brennan and Aileen, and the grandson of Niall, is heir to the Lion Throne of Homana and inheritor, too, of a prophecy carried down through the generations and finally on the verge of fulfillment. But will Aidan--driven as he is by strange visions and portents--prove the weak link in the ages-old prophecy, the Chevsuli who fails to achieve his foretold destine.

For as Aidan prepares to set out for Erinn to claim his betrothed, he will become the focus of forces out of legend, visited by the ghosts of long-dead kinsmen, and by the Hunter, a mysterious being who may be a Chevsuli god incarnate. Commanded by the Hunter to undertake a quest to claim a series of "god-given" golden links, Aidan will find himself challenged by the Cheysuli's most deadly foe, Lochiel, the son of Strahan, who will use every trick of lhlini sorcery to stop Aidan and destroy the promise of the prophecy once and for all.

Nearly a century has passed since the Prophecy of the Firstborn was set in motion--the generational quest to recreate the magical race which once held sway in the lands ruled by Homana's Mujar.

Now, Kellin, heir to Homana's throne, has only to sire an offspring with an Ihlini woman to reach this goal. But Kellin wants nothing of prophecy, nor even of his own magical heritage. Embittered by tragedy, he refuses the sacred lir-bonding, becoming anathema in the eyes of his Cheysuli kin.

But willing participant or not, Kellin provides a very real threat to the Ihlini--the ancient enemies of the Cheysuli people for should the Prophecy be fulfilled, life as the Ihlini know it will end.

How can a lirless warrior ever hope to escape the traps of the Ihlini sorcerers? And how can the Prophecy ever be realized when the man born to become its final champion shuns his destined role?