A Quiet Of Stone

Author: Stephen Leigh
Pub: 1984 by Bantam Books, Inc.
Pages: 226
Ranking:

Third of the three book series...
Other Books in the Series:

• Slow Fall to Dawn
• Dance of the Hag
• A Quiet of Stone

A Guild of Assassins! What could be of more interest to martial artists? Set in the far future where mankind has spread to many worlds, the world of Neweden seems to be a society set in the 14th century. Everyone who is anyone is a member of a guild, and only those who aren't members of any guild are called "kinless", lassari outcasts. Only they can be insulted freely.

The guild of assassins will guarantee an attempt to take someone's life for the right price. The guild ritually warns the victim, and in the evening, the hunt begins... if they can survive until the dawn, they live. And the guild's greatest thrill is the "hunt of knives"... They restrict themselves to the weapons that the victim is using.

This series of three books is spellbinding, and are very well written with many interesting charactors. Although the series is out of print, you should be able to locate them in used book stores, or over the Internet.

Back Cover:

Gyll Hermond was spawned in the dark streets of Neweden, a world torn apart by intrigue and blood-feud. He'd molded a ragged band of kinless outcasts into a trained killing force - the Hoorka Assassins' Guild - only to be deposed as leader in a bitter struggle for power.

Now Fate brings Gyll back to Neweden as military commander of a powerful Trading Family. Hoorka has become a lethal weapon in the hands of a repressive regime. And Gyll must risk his life in a final confrontation with his own deadly creation.

Introduction

RETURN TO NEWEDEN

He'd taken a flitter from Sterka Port to the city, deciding impulsively to walk its streets again. For the most part, it seemed the same: cluttered, narrow streets made for pedestrian traffic and not groundcars, rich and poor dwellings side by side. Sterka was nothing like the sleek and clean lines of OldinHome, the ordered beauty of its buildings and parks. It gave Gyll grim hope that he could accomplish his mission on Neweden - to take Hoorka Guild away from the Alliance, to lead them again, under the Oldin Family flag.

As he walked, something nagged at him, some vague feeling of unease. A prickling at the back of his neck: danger. Something in the net of shadows about him made him hesitate. Gyll took a false step forward, waited, pulled back.

The feint saved him. A hand holding a dagger stabbed air where he should have been.