Sword of the Gods II: Prince of Tyre

The Chess Game Thus Far…

The Chess Game Thus Far…(synopsis of Book One: The Chosen One)

Mikhail awakens in his crashed ship with no memory of his past. He is saved by Ninsianna, a young woman who can speak to the goddess. With a broken wing and no way home, he is forced to integrate into her stone-aged village, a task made difficult by her jilted lover, Jamin. When young women start disappearing, Mikhail must organize her people to fight back. He trains eight archers, including Pareesa, a young woman with a preternatural ability to master any weapon, and later trains the village warriors, including Gita, a peculiar young woman who happens to be Ninsianna's cousin. But leadership does not come easy to the reclusive Mikhail.

Ninsianna's people have prophecies of a winged champion who will defend her people against an Evil One. Mikhail swears he is no demi-god, but his sword and his uncanny ability to kill says otherwise. Love blossoms and they marry, but each night the goddess sends Ninsianna nightmares of lizard demons and a white-winged Evil One who will cut their child from her womb. As her power grows, Ninsianna begins to view her people from the godlike perspective of She-who-is.

Jamin wanted to marry the woman of his dreams, but then Ninsianna broke off their engagement and took up with the winged demon who fell from the sky. Believing Mikhail harbors dark magic, he seeks proof it is Mikhail's own people buying human women from the whispered lizard demons. But in the course of dancing with his enemies, Jamin makes a terrible mistake, one the village trollop, Shahla, holds over his head to blackmail his affections.

The Eternal Emperor may be a god, but neither his knowledge of genetics, nor his godlike powers, have enabled him to fix the inbreeding which has rendered his four species of genetically engineered super-soldiers sterile. If only the human root race had not gone extinct! Little does he know Mikhail was shot down onto a surviving colony which lies within the grasp of his ancient adversary, Shay'tan.

Shay'tan is thrilled when his Sata'anic navy discovers humanity has survived on a remote planet. Whoever controls access to humans will control the fate of the galaxy. He orders his armies, including the lowly Lieutenant Kasib, to annex the human homeworld into his Sata'an Empire, but it's been a long time since hybrids diverged as a separate species. Has enough genetic drift occurred that they are no longer genetically compatible? He orders Ba'al Zebub to find out and, in the process, why not tweak his ancient adversary's nose? The old dragon knows just which Alliance citizen would sell his soul for the chance to sire an heir. A certain disgruntled adopted prince, perhaps?

Unbeknownst to either emperor, Lucifer cuts a deal with Ba'al Zebub to purchase not just one human female, but hundreds of them. Marriage is illegal, and so is fraternizing with pre-technological cultures. Fearful his adopted father is more interested in winning his pissing contest against Shay'tan than saving his species, Lucifer secretly match-makes humans to other sterile hybrids, including General Abaddon and General Kunopegos while he works behind the scenes to stage a coup d'état.

But lately, Lucifer has been experiencing blackouts. The behavior his loyal guard Eligor and Ba'al Zebub's delivery boy Apausha witness during these lapses differs drastically from Lucifer's recollections of humans as being non-sentient breeding stock, a delusion fed by his sycophantic Chief of Staff, Zepar.

Raphael continues searching for Mikhail long after the others have given his best friend up for dead. Supreme Commander-General Jophiel allows this search because it keeps Raphael far enough away to not tempt her to defy the Emperor's anti-fraternization laws. With so few hybrids capable of reproducing, the only way their species will survive is if those who can reproduce beget offspring to introduce genetic diversity, the reason hybrids are forbidden to marry. But when their son almost dies, Jophiel begins to rethink the policies which forbid her species from ever knowing love.

Then Mikhail gets out a distress call, and the Emperor knows what Shay'tan has hidden up his ermine robe … but not where…

As intrigues roil the heavens and the two great empires race to secure the planet which will determine the fate of the galaxy, no one notices a far more ancient Evil is manipulating Lucifer to pull the factions strings to go to war.

No one, that is, except for Ninsianna, and her goddess-sent visions of the Evil One. Whether he wants to be their leader or not, Mikhail is the goddess's champion, and it is up to him to save them.