It is the year 1537. the great winged lion stares over a venice where magic thrives. the rich venetian republic is a bastion of independence and tolerance. perhaps for that reason, it is also corrupt, and rotten with intrigue.but for the young brothers marco and benito valdosta, vagabond and thief, venice is simply--home. they have no idea that they stand at the center of the city's coming struggle for its very life. they know nothing of the powerful forces moving in the background. they have barely heard of chernobog, demon-lord
Venice had been thrown into chaos by the scheming of chernobog, who came within a hair of seizing absolute power, but was thwarted by the guardian lion-spirit, who awoke to protect his city from the power-mad demon. but the power of the lion does not extend beyond venice, and chernobog has a new ally in the king of hungary, who has laid siege to the island of corfu as the first step in his plan to seize control of the adriatic from venice. trapped on the island is the small
Prince manfred and his mentor and bodyguard, the deadly warrior erik, survived dangers and enemies both natural and supernmatural, and if they thought that their new mission was going to be anything but more of the same, they soon gave up on that hope. returning from jerusalem, they and their escort of knights of the holy trinity are escorting an envoy of ii khan mongol to the lands of the golden horde-between the black sea and the carpathians, which happen to be eastern bastion against their old enemies, the demon
In an alternate 16th century where magic is still is part of life, the holy roman empire rules europe. constantinople is under siege by the venetians and their allies. the great city is the crossroads of east and west, and it is here that the power of hekate, the weeping woman, goddess of crossroads, is at its greatest. italian captain benito valdosta must deal with her deadly magic in order to destroy the fleets of the chernobog assembling in the black sea before they can cut into the soft underbelly