Skein of Fates

Nuetierra. An alien world where twin moons light the night and massive air-breathing jellyfish float through the violet skies trolling for prey.Nue Bayona. A gaslit, steam-powered city caught between the iron fist of a despot and the bloody fist of a terrorist...Four hundred years have passed since The Great War toppled the technologically advanced colonial civilization created by refugees fleeing a dying planet. Since its fall, the descendants of the survivors have gradually rebuilt a new society on the bones of the old. Deanna Hernaan, daughter of Eduard, the former Alcalde of Nue Bayona, spends much of her time caring for her mentally damaged younger sister, Ceilia. Six years ago, her stepmother Lourdessa led a brutal political coup against their father. With the consent of the city's elite, Lourdessa rules through patronage and oppression while Deanna's father languishes in prison.The common citizens chafe beneath Lourdessa's yoke and yearn for their lost democracy. Many in Nue Bayona support a resistance movement led by the mysterious figure known only as Faustin, despite the fact his violent tactics have left innocent people dead.Threatened by Deanna's popularity, Lourdessa jealously arranges for her assassination. But the attempt fails and Deanna escapes from the city. Cast adrift in a hostile wilderness and near death, she is rescued by a band of diminutive hunters, members of a mysterious race she knows only from history books-the Tiqui.Recovering in their distant village, Deanna meets a remarkable woman-the Tiqui chieftess Yellow Bird. The chieftess possesses the shamanic gift of foresight. Her visions have revealed that a girl of the tall folk would one day come, a girl whose fate is inextricably linked to that of the Tiqui.When Deanna's safe haven is destroyed in a night of horrific violence, she must make a choice: leave the Tiqui for a life of exile, or dare to embrace her destiny by embarking on the road to revolution. Dangerous and uncertain, disaster or salvation waits at its end-for both Tiqui and tall folk alike. Skein of Fates is the first book in the Nuetierra Chronicles.