Caina has made many enemies, and chief among them is Lord Corbould Maraeus, the most powerful noble in the Empire of Nighmar. But the Empire is facing dire peril, and Corbould needs all the allies he can find. If Caina can find a missing ambassador, Corbould is willing to forego his vengeance against Caina. Except no mere political intrigue has snared the missing ambassador. For the ancient evils in the forgotten Vault of the Moroaica are awakening...

Two master thieves. One dangerous prize. Caina has the ancient Sword of the Iron King, one of the five relics that could return the necromancer-king to torment mankind once more. But Caina knows where the Iron King's Dagger is hidden, and if she and Countess Kalthane can steal the weapon from its malevolent keepers, two of the five relics will be unable to harm anyone. There's just one problem. The Dagger is hidden in the grim halls of the Iron King's castle. And sinister guardians lurk in the castle's shadows...

Caina has a deadly problem. Specifically, she carries the Ring of Rasarion Yagar, a relic created by the tyrannical necromancer-king who once ruled Ulkaar. The deadly sorcerers of the malevolent Umbarian Order wish to seize the Ring for themselves, as do the sinister priests of the ruthless Temnoti cult. And to make matters worse, the Ring is not the only powerful relic of Rasarion Yagar. And unless Caina can escape her foes, the wielders of those relics will kill her...

In his quest to capture the pieces of the Amulet of Avantia, Tom must battle Luna the Moon wolf, whose evil magic turns all the animals of the forest--including Tom's animal friends--against him.

For all her life, Caina has run from the memory of her cruel mother. But her mother was merely the weakest member of a family of powerful and ruthless sorcerers. Now Caina has the Ring of the ancient necromancer-king Rasarion Yagar, and her aunt Talmania Scorneus is hunting for her. And to take the Ring, Talmania is willing to kill Caina and everyone close to her...

'It's enthralling stuff, mixing the scholarly with the accessible and placing storytelling right at the heart of the human experience.' - History Revealed 'A fascinating journey' - Yorkshire Post 'Marvellous...Finkel is an expert in Mesopotamian cultures at the British Museum, and is one of the most clever, and nicest, of people it has ever been my pleasure to encounter...A fascinating journey' - The Scotsman There are few things more in common across cultures than the belief in ghosts. Ghosts inhabit something of the very essence of what it is to be human. Whether we personally 'believe' or not, we are all aware of ghosts and the rich mythologies and rituals surrounding them. They have inspired, fascinated and frightened us for centuries - yet most of us are only familiar with the vengeful apparitions of Shakespeare, or the ghastly spectres haunting the pages of 19th century gothic literature. But their origins are much, much older... The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies takes us back to the very beginning. A world-renowned authority on cuneiform, the form of writing on clay tablets which dates back to 3400BC, Irving Finkel has embarked upon an ancient ghost hunt, scouring these tablets to unlock the secrets of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians to breathe new life into the first ghost stories ever written. In The First Ghosts, he uncovers an extraordinarily rich seam of ancient spirit wisdom which has remained hidden for nearly 4000 years, covering practical details of how to live with ghosts, how to get rid of them and bring them back, and how to avoid becoming one, as well as exploring more philosophical questions: what are ghosts, why does the idea of them remain so powerful despite the lack of concrete evidence, and what do they tell us about being human?