| Saga of the Noble Dead | |
| Language: | English |
Saga of the Noble Dead (also known as The Noble Dead Series), written by Barb Hendee[1] and J. C. Hendee,[2] is a set of chronological books in series, and chronological series in a saga that tells the story of protagonists drawn together in a struggle against the little-known and little believed-in Noble Dead (higher undead such as vampires) that herald the return of a long forgotten age in a fantasy world. It begins with an unlikely trio drawn together as charlatans who use their skills to cheat peasants by the common superstitions concerning the undead. Soon enough they find that not all superstitions are completely false; the bits of truth they hold could lead to something far worse that has been long forgotten.
Composed of six novels, it tells the story of Magiere (a dhampir: a vampire/human hybrid), Leesil (a half-elf, an elf/human hybrid, with a dark past), and Chap (an elemental Fay born into the body of a majay-hì, elven hounds of a wolf lineage). In Series 1, Book 1, S1B2: Dhampir, Magiere is unaware of her inner nature, the discovery of which leads the trio into a tangled path that uncovers hints of the Forgotten History and of what may be coming by the end of Series 1.
At the start of the story, the two "half-breeds", together with Chap, make a reasonable living pretending to be 'vampire-hunters'. Eventually the inevitable happens; they cross paths with genuine vampires, one form of the Noble Dead or highest form[s] of the undead. These charlatans are plunged unwillingly into a dark reality of true undead and into their own dark fates as well as other personal secrets they kept hidden (even from each other). Much as they want nothing to do with this, and only to settle down somewhere quiet, they are soon driven from their home on a quest to learn the truth of their pasts and why they've been drawn together. The answers are bigger than any of them wish to acknowledge, aside from a wandering nobleman named Welstiel Massing who shadows their movements and is always too eager to goad Magiere out of hiding and force her onward.
Comprising three novels, it centers on a new trio composed of two secondary characters from Series/Phase 1 and one new character: Wynn Hygeorht (the young journeyer "sage"), Chane Andraso (a "young" vampire obsessed with Wynn), and a two-year-old majay-hì named Shade (daughter of Chap, from series/phase 1, and Lily, a wild majay-hì female). This series also introduces readers to the second (spiritual) form of the three major forms of Noble Dead, the first being the vampire (physical) form as encountered previously. Book 1 of this series begins about a year after the end of Series/Phase 1 on a different continent in the city of Calm Seatt, royal city of the nation of Malournè and home to the founding branch of the Guild of Sagecraft.
Wynn has returned to her guild branch, escorted to the city limits by Magiere, Leesil, and Chap. There they part ways as the central trio of Series/Phase 1 heads off on their own secret purpose, leaving their young sage friend behind along with a treasure of recovered ancient texts likely penned by long forgotten undead. But upon Wynn's arrival at guild, both the texts and her travel journals are seized and locked away, for the guild leaders do not want what they contain to become public knowledge. To make matters worse, without the proof of her journals no one believes her tales of the undead, for such things are unknown in her part of the world.
Wynn sets out to recover the texts and her journals in the hope of uncovering why a mythical war of a past age left humanity with an unknown Forgotten History. For those texts were written by long gone Noble Dead from the time of that war, a war which might come again. But she does so under the protection of two who are innate enemies and have followed her from across the world: Chane Andraso, a vampire, and Shade, a very young majay-hì whose kind are known to hunt and eradicate the undead.
To complicate matters all the more, something is hunting Wynn as well. It wants the answers she seeks before she can get to them. And it is not seeking that knowledge just for itself.
Wynn is reunited with Magiere and Leesil and Chap, and other old characters of note return as well. The notion of who is an enemy or an ally becomes more complicated, for the number of those around Magiere seeking to stop a coming conflict and the return of a thousand year old adversary has grown... and not to her liking.
Tales from the World of the Saga of the Noble Dead
Codex of the Noble Dead (planned) by J.C. Hendee