Sword of Heaven 
(Jaran #2-3)

A Novel in Two Parts:
Book I: An Earthly Crown
Book II: His Conquering Sword

[Author's Note:  Sorry, yes, I know it's confusing what with "book" one being Jaran #2 and "book" two being Jaran #3.  See the Bibliography if necessary to get it straight.]

An Earthly Crown: Confrontation of Conquerors - In Jaran, Kate Elliott introduced us to the planet Rhui, an interdicted, low-technology, human-populated world, and to the nomadic Jaran tribes, a people on the brink of uniting under one charismatic warlord, Ilya Bakhtian.

An Earthly Crown returns us to Rhui as the Jaran tribes, led by Ilya, are sweeping across the plains to conquer the settled lands, city by city.  At Ilya's side, and a partner in his victories, is his wife Tess, a woman of whose true origins Ilya himself is unaware.  For Tess, born on Earth, is the sister and only heir of Charles Soerensen, leader of the failed rebellion against the alien Chapalii Empire and now a Duke of that Empire.

Charles, who has continued his subversive activities against the alien overlords, now finds himself caught in a deadly game of interstellar politics and realizes that he must go to Rhui to reclaim both his heir and knowledge long hidden there of an ancient rebellion against the Empire.  But once there, Charles finds himself caught in a battle of wills with Ilya, who is equally adamant about keeping Tess on Rhui.  Yet what neither realizes is that Tess has her own agenda for the future, and that this clash of powers may prove the death knell of both the Jaran tribes and the human rebellion.
 

His Conquering Sword:  When Conqueror's clash - On the planet Rhui, the Jaran tribes, under the leadership of Ilya Bakhtiian have ranged far in their campaign to subjugate all who will not willingly yield to their rule.  Yet even as they prepare to besiege the royal city of Karkand, many another battle is being waged on a far more personal -- and perhaps a more important -- scale.  For Ilya is married to Tess Soerensen, a woman born not on Rhui but on Earth, and a woman, too, who is the only heir to Charles Soerensen, leader of the failed rebellion against the alien Chapalii Empire and now a duke of that same Empire.

And Charles has come to Rhui for two reasons:  to reclaim his sister, and to decipher long hidden and invaluable data about the Mushai, the legendary Chapalii who once led his own rebellion against the Empire.

But Tess has no desire to become anyone's puppet, and unless the three can make their own private peace and agree upon a common strategy for conquest, what hope do they have of overthrowing an Empire that was thriving before humans learned to walk erect?
 
 

Snapshot excerpt from An Earthly Crown:
(Click on either cover to see it larger)

The rider left the great sprawl of tents that marked the nomad army just as the sun set.  Dusk washed his scarlet shirt gray, and with only the gibbous moon to light him, he soon faded into the dark of night, the susurration of his horse's passage through the high grass marking his progress.  Near midnight, he came to another, smaller camp, and here he changed horses and went on.   By dawn, he was within sight of the low range of hills where lay the farthest outposts of the khaja, the settled people.

One hand's span after sunrise, he rode through a village.  Fields spread out around the huts.  Green shoots wet with dew sparkled in the soft light of morning.  The khaja stopped in their tasks and stared at him, a lone jaran warrior armed with a saber and a lance, passing through their midst as if their presence was beneath his notice.  None spoke, or moved against him.
 

Snapshot excerpt from His Conquering Sword:
(Both covers are very fine, but in my humble opinion Jim Burns out-did himself with the magnificent artwork for His Conquering Sword.)

Aleksi could no longer look at the sky without wondering.  On clear nights the vast expanse of Mother Sun's encampment could bee seen, countless campfires and torches and lanterns lit against the broad black flank of Brother Sky.  Uncle Moon rose and set, following his herds, and Aunt Cloud and Cousin Rain came and went on their own erratic schedule.

But what if these were only stories?  What if Tess's home, Erthe, lay not across the seas but up there, in the heavens?  How could land lie there at all?  Who held it up?  Yet who held up the very land he stood on now? It was not a question that had ever bothered him before.

All material from these two excerpts Copyright 1993 Katrina Elliott. All rights reserved.

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All material Copyright Katrina Elliott 2000. All rights reserved.