Weasel fumbled the cloth aside. It was a shield, steel plate over dark wood, with rotting leather straps. It looked old, and battered, and real. A former pickpocket, Weasel is the type of boy most people would avoid. Certainly, no one would ever trust him -- except for one man. Justice Holis took Weasel off the streets, gave him a home, a job as his clerk, and a key to his house. Weasel's new life may be a bit boring, but for the first time someone actually cares about him. Now Justice Holis is the one in trouble. Arrested for treason, he will surely hang unless someone saves him -- and that someone can only be Weasel. But what can one boy do? Not much without help. So with a mysterious girl named Arisa by his side, Weasel goes in search of the Falcon, the most dangerous bandit in Deorthas, but also the one person who would be able -- and possibly willing -- to stage a prison break. But Weasel's fate changes when he stumbles upon a shield. Could this be the one said to have been lost for centuries, the one that bestows power on whoever holds it? If so, Weasel, once a lowly pickpocket, could be the most powerful person in the land. With extraordinary craftsmanship, Hilari Bell weaves a fantasy adventure story that will have readers captivated from the first word to the last.

"I'D LIKE YOU TO FIND THE SWORD FOR ME. DO YOU THINK YOU COULD HANDLE THAT?" Arisa isn't certain how to respond when her mother, the Falcon, formerly a dangerous bandit but now lord commander of the army and navy of Deorthas, entrusts her with this extremely special mission. Everything changed for Arisa when she and her friend Weasel stumbled upon the ancient shield rumored to bestow power upon whoever holds it. With the shield, the Falcon was able to gain her new station, bringing Arisa into a world of royalty Arisa isn't even sure she enjoys. Now the Falcon wants Arisa to get close to young Prince Edoran, and join with Edoran and Weasel to search for the legendary sword that matches the shield. As Arisa's search progresses, however, she realizes she may be in danger from a deadly stranger. Worse -- she and her friends may be in even graver danger from someone they know all too well! Critically acclaimed fantasy author Hilari Bell continues the captivating trilogy begun in Shield of Stars with another thrilling, surprising, and wholly satisfying novel.

Warrior, Shield and Star interprets the rich symbolism and ideology of Pueblo warfare in rock art in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. The conclusion relates ancient war symbols to modern Pueblo war societies. This groundbreaking book will be welcomed by rock art scholars and avid amateurs.

Now that both the shield and the sword of legend have been found, only the crown remains to be located in order for someone to hold the power to the whole kingdom of Deorthas. Many are hoping to obtain this magical crown and unite it with the sword and shield, but our heroes Weasel, Arisa, and Prince Edoran are right in the thick of the fray. The final chapters of this riveting tale are told from the perspective of Prince Edoran, who began the series a spoiled prince but now must show what he can do when everything is on the line.

As the ruthless rulers of the Malwa Empire dominate sixth-century India, assisted by an abomination from the future, peacemakers from the future send a crystal, Aide, to stop their advance, with the help of Count Belisarius of Byzantium.

Acclaimed Inda series within Sherwood Smith's epic fantasy Sartorias-deles universe • Military fantasy woven with courtly politics, vast worldbuilding, and diverse characters Inda was the second son of the prince and princess of Choraed Elgaer. It had been Inda's fate, as second son, to be his family's Shield Arm and spend his adult life protecting the lands his brother would one day inherit. But powerful factions in the royal court were committed to seeing Inda fail. For eight difficult years, Inda had been at sea, using an assumed name and forcing himself to never think of all he had lost. And he had created a new life, for the military skills that had been trained into him and his own inborn leadership ability could not be erased. After founding a mercenary marine company, he had earned a reputation for defeating dangerous pirate fleets. When Inda discovers that his home country is about to be attacked from the sea by an ancient enemy, he throws his carefully guarded anonymity to the winds and returns home. After nearly a decade at sea, Inda finds his home utterly changed. His good friend Evred, the formerly powerless and harassed younger prince, is now king. Evred has heard of Inda's martial accomplishments at sea, and is determined to make Inda his Royal Shield Arm—the person in charge of defending the entire kingdom. Though Inda is skilled, his experience is entirely naval. Can a former pirate captain alter his tactics to become a successful ground commander in time to save his endangered homeland?

A richly detailed, profoundly engrossing story of how religion has influenced American foreign relations, told through the stories of the men and women—from presidents to preachers—who have plotted the country’s course in the world. Ever since John Winthrop argued that the Puritans’ new home would be “a city upon a hill,” Americans’ role in the world has been shaped by their belief that God has something special in mind for them. But this is a story that historians have mostly ignored. Now, in the first authoritative work on the subject, Andrew Preston explores the major strains of religious fervor—liberal and conservative, pacifist and militant, internationalist and isolationist—that framed American thinking on international issues from the earliest colonial wars to the twenty-first century. He arrives at some startling conclusions, among them: Abraham Lincoln’s use of religion in the Civil War became the model for subsequent wars of humanitarian intervention; nineteenth-century Protestant missionaries made up the first NGO to advance a global human rights agenda; religious liberty was the centerpiece of Franklin Roosevelt’s strategy to bring the United States into World War II. From George Washington to George W. Bush, from the Puritans to the present, from the colonial wars to the Cold War, religion has been one of America’s most powerful sources of ideas about the wider world. When, just days after 9/11, George W. Bush described America as “a prayerful nation, a nation that prays to an almighty God for protection and for peace,” or when Barack Obama spoke of balancing the “just war and the imperatives of a just peace” in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, they were echoing four hundred years of religious rhetoric. Preston traces this echo back to its source. Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith is an unprecedented achievement: no one has yet attempted such a bold synthesis of American history. It is also a remarkable work of balance and fair-mindedness about one of the most fraught subjects in America.