Spellfire (novel)

Spellfire is a Forgotten Realms novel by Ed Greenwood first published in 1988. It is the first book in Shandril's Saga, focusing on the character of Shandril Shessair and the power of spellfire.
==Summary==
Shandril Shessair is a 16-year old maid at the Rising Moon in Highmoon. She is unhappy with her life, as she knows nothing else of the world and is mistreated by the inn's cook, Korvan. She craves adventure; one year later, she steals the possessions of the Company of the Bright Spear as their thief is slain in a tavern brawl; while she does it, her eyes meet those of Narm Tamaraith, apprentice to the mage Marimmar. When the party discovers their valuables are missing, she claims credit for the heist and volunteers as their new thief.
They hire her and all together head for Myth Drannor; on the way to the ancient elven city they are attacked by a contingent of armed men carrying what appears to be treasure. Desiring revenge and answers, the Company pursues them to the Gates of Doom on the Thunder Peaks, where they are all routed by a mage and a green dragon. Shandril survives, and is taken alive to be used as a virgin sacrifice. She manages to flee by taking advantage of several hidden portals, only to be captured anew by the Shadowsil, a malevolent sorceress of the Cult of the Dragon. The witch takes her to the lair of Rauglothgor, a dracolich.
After the Company of the Bright Spear is brought low, the same wizard and most of the mule train is slain by four malaugrym, which reveal themselves to have infiltrated the mule train. The four malaugrym are two groups of siblings: Architrave and Sintre, along Stralane and Magusta. The malaugrym turn on each other after discovering each other to have infiltrated the mule train; Magusta reveals she knows Architrave sought spellfire, while Architrave and Sintre muse that perhaps, they were sired by the Shadowmaster High, reminiscing about their mother, Amarune.
Narm's master takes him to Myth Drannor, ignoring along the way the warnings of two Knights of Myth Drannor. At the city, Marimmar is slain by devils and Narm barely escapes thanks to the intervention of the Knights. They take him to Shadowdale, but he asks to return, so he may face the devils. While there, he instead crosses paths with the Shadowsil, and pursues her to the portal to Rauglothgor's abode; he attacks, and she attacks back, leaving him for dead. He's rescued again by the Knights, and they pursue through the portal to the dragon's lair.
After a short battle at Rauglothgor's lair, Narm and Shandril find themselves trapped by a cave-in; while trapped with the dragon's hoard and anticipating death, they spend a tender moment together. They are soon attacked by the Shadowsil again: Shandril breaks a globe of glass in the sorceress' face, and this makes her spells fail. As they are found again by the Knights, Elminster joins them; he reveals that Shandril is now haunted by a balhiir, and if they do not slay the creature, it'll thwart all their magic and destroy all their enchanted items. Rauglothgor reveals himself; the strange creature thwarts his spells, and after it is destroyed, the Knights assume it to have destroyed the dragon's phylactery. Shandril helps Elminster perform the rite to destroy the balhiir, temporarily gaining the power of spellfire, which she uses to fight off the forces of the Cult that come after her in the wake of Rauglothgor's destruction. Elminster notes that she employed far more spellfire than the balhiir could possibly have carried.
The Shadowsil reaches out to Aghazstamn, another dracolich, and convinces it to ride to meet the Knights in battle; she is quickly fought off by Elminster and Shandril, then mortally wounded; Elminster gives her her last rites, in the name of Mystra. Her death soon summons Manshoon out of Zhentil Keep, who rides a dragon to meet the Knights; the dragon is mortally wounded by Shandril's spellfire shortly after arriving, and flees towards Myth Drannor, but dies in midflight, leaving Manshoon to escape on foot.
Narm and Shandril return to Shadowdale with the Knights; Elminster takes both for training, Narm as an apprentice and Shandril as a spellfire hurler. Meanwhile, the leadership of both Zhentil Keep and the Cult are both made aware of spellfire, and decide to take its power for their own. A mage of the Cult, Malark Himbruel, heads to Shadowdale to move directly against Shandril as soon as he can; a contingent of Zhentilar soldiers are dispatched for an attack. The two heroes spend some time as guests of Mourngrym Amcathra, Lord of Shadowdale, and get married at his home castle. After three kidnapping attempts on Shandril, one by the Cult, one by the Zhentilar, and one by a lone apprentice of the Zhentarim, Yarkul, the two head over to Storm Silverhand's home, where they are introduced to the Harpers, whom they declare they intend to join. Then they head to Elminster's tower, believing it to be the safest place to spend the night.
Meanwhile, in Zhentil Keep, Manshoon's absence triggers a near-coup as the remaining factions vie for power. Architrave and Sintre attack each other while pretending to be part of the same forces; finding each other, Architrave reveals he possesses a Doomstar with which he intends to slay the Shadowmaster High.
After their stay on the tower, they decide to head to Silverymoon, where they can be under Alustriel Silverhand's protection. Along the way, they make a short stop at the Rising Moon inn, where Shandril catches up Lureene and Gorstag, her tutor of sixteen years. Then as they leave, Delg of the Company of the Bright Spear turns up at the inn, where Korvan is revealed to be an agent of the Cult of the Dragon; a mage of the Cult escapes, but his accompanying warrior and Korvan attack Gorstag and are slain. Reading a letter from Elminster the dwarf carries, the innkeeper reveals to Delg which way Shandril and her husband went. As he does, a priestess of Oghma demands to see the letter, soon turning violent after she is rebuffed; her body dissolves into black ooze as Gorstag cuts her down. A watching Amarune realizes this is Sintre, but before she can contemplate revenge, Elminster appears at her residence and warns her not to.
A third dracolich, Shargrailar, soon arrives; the cult mage, Thiszult, gets into a brawl with Architrave, from which he escapes. The dracolich quickly slays the malaugrym, and then the mage; Architrave's doomstar is retrieved by an unknown party. Along the road, Shandril and Narm are attacked by the dracolich, just as Delg arrives. Shandril barely manages to slay the dracolich and keep Narm alive.
==Index (2005 Reissue)==
;Locations
 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 
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:: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 
;Religion
 • 
:: • • • • • • • • 
;Organizations
: • • • • 
:: • • • 
;Languages
:
;Magic
;Spells
: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 
;Magic Items
: • • • ? • • • ? • ? • ? • • • • • • • • • • • • 
;Artifacts
:
;Other
: • 
;Items
;Music
: 
;Books
:: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 
;Armor
: • • • 
:: 
;Clothing
: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 
::
;Food & Drinks
: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 
::
;Weapons
: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 
;Materials
: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 
:: • • 
;Musical Instruments
: • • • 
;Other
: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 
:: • • • • • • • 
;Miscellaneous
: • • • 
;Coinage
: • • 
;Events
:
:: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 
;Other
:
==Appendix==
===Gallery===
Jon-sullivan-spell-fire.jpg
Spellfire novel spanish.jpg|Spanish language edition cover.
Spellfire novel map.jpg|The map depicting Shandril Shessair's journey.
Spellfire novel art .jpg|Spanish language edition cover art.
===References===
Category:Novels
Category:Books
Category:Works by Ed Greenwood
Category:Published in 1988
Category:Published in 2002
Category:Year of Manuscripts