The Turquoise Queen (Book 8)

Cover of The Turquoise Queen

## Description

**A great danger has arisen in the north of the realm. Soldiers and Magi cannot defeat it. Will the Snow Panthers be able to?**

While Lasgol and his comrades carry out their duties as Rangers, a shadowy danger gathers strength in the Frozen Territories and threatens the kingdom. Thoran sends his Ice Magi and his armies to fight against it.

The Snow Panthers are summoned to carry out a risky and complicated mission to obtain an object of power which will help destroy the evil which is on its way across the northern mountains to the capital.

This is not the only danger our friends will have to face, since the Dark Rangers and the Zangrians continue to pose an ever-present threat, both to the realm and the Panthers.

Do not miss this next book, rich in adventure, action, thrills and magic.

Will they manage to secure the precious magical object they seek? Will the kingdom survive the evil that's on its way from the north, as well as the Dark Rangers and the Zangrians? Will Lasgol and his friends survive?

## Plot

Lasgol is carrying out a mission to capture or kill five Nocean mercenaries who have been causing trouble near the village of Olsentagh. He manages to defeat them all, and rescues the villagers who the Noceans were terrorizing. Lasgol practices a new training technique with Ona and Camu for disarming someone, and finds out that Camu can press extremely hard with his jaws.

Then Lasgol goes on another mission to help the village of Isverien, which is suffering from attacks from an unknown fierce creature. Lasgol tracks the creature to it's lair, and discovers that it is a Mountain Ogre. The Ogre is about to kill Lasgol when he manages to Dominate it's mind, developing a new skill that he calls Animal Domination. Then he manages to kill it using an elemental trap of fire, and elemental arrows of fire and air. Both Camu and Ona are hurt in the battle, and Lasgol has to take care of them afterwards. He has to wait ten days before going back to Isverien to give them time to recover. Dolstar, the chief of Isverien, is very pleased to see him back.

Then Lasgol is summoned to the capitol. On the way he visits Skad for a day and talks with Martha, Ulf, Gondar, and Limus. After he leaves, Lasgol activates his magical pendant, the Marker of Experiences, and sees a memory of his mother meeting with the Glacial Arcanes. At the meeting, Hotz says that only the study of the ice (trying to find powerful Creatures of the Ice and free them) will save the People of the Ice. The Glacial Arcanes decide to accept Darthor's proposal of an alliance with the Western League, and Hotz is furious, saying that most of them will die.

Lasgol continues to the capitol. He has to leave Ona outside the city, and Camu decides to stay with her. Inside the city he meets Nilsa. She takes him up to the top of the Rangers' tower, where the messenger birds are kept, since Milton just arrived with a message from Egil. Egil tells them that Dolbarar's illness has gotten worse, and that Gondabar has appointed an acting Leader of the Camp until he recovers. Nilsa tells Lasgol that the acting Leader of the Camp is Veenerten. Egil also tells them that two veteran Rangers have been following him around, during the day and night. Then he reports to Gondabar, who tells him he is to leave for the north the next morning with the Ice Magi and a force of soldiers, who are assigned to defeat the Frozen Specter and drive out the People of the Ice from north Norghana. Enker and Misten, two Ranger Specialists, are also assigned to go with Lasgol. They scout ahead of the main army under Sven.

When Lasgol, Misten and Enker reach the Pass of the White Dragon's Gorge, they find two dead Norghanian soldiers. Misten and Enker scout the area and find that the Wild of the Ice have destroyed Tulkors and Isvengorg, the two nearest villages to the pass. When the army arrives, Sven sends the three Rangers to scout the pass. At the end of the pass the Rangers encounter a patrol of Wild Ones, which they manage to defeat, clearing the local area. Lasgol then goes back to tell Sven the pass is clear, and the army crosses over it.

One night as they are moving north, Eicewald summons Lasgol and shows him a Greater Object of Power called the Eternal Snowflake. Eicewald reveals that he will use this talisman to project a massive spell that he believes will defeat the Frozen Specter, though he is not completely sure it will work. Eicewald asks Lasgol to hold the talisman while he and the other four Ice Mages cast the spell. When the army reaches the northernmost village of the People of the Ice, they find over a thousand enemies assembled there, and the ritual totem set up to summon the Frozen Specter. Eicewald and the Ice Magi cast the spell, but it doesn't kill the Frozen Specter. The Norghanian army is forced to retreat.

Back at the capitol, Eicewald explains to a furious Thoran that the spell failed because the magic in the Eternal Snowflake was of Water and Death; in order to defeat the Frozen Specter, they will need to use a talisman with Magic of Water and Life. The only talisman with this magic that Eicewald knows about is the Star of Sea and Life, owned by the Turquoise Queen, ruler of an island kingdom very far to the west. Eicewald manages to convince Thoran to let him go on an expedition to the Turquoise Queen's territory, guarded by Rangers. He chooses Lasgol to come with him and to select the other members of the team, and Lasgol selects the Snow Panthers. While they are waiting at the ship, Eicewald tells Lasgol he chose him to come along because he saw that he has the Gift and because he thinks Lasgol won't let him down. Nilsa, Gerd, Ingrid, Viggo and Astrid are able to come, but Egil is not allowed to leave the Camp. Lasgol tells them about the mission and Ingrid says she's glad that they are all there, since as a team these six are better than any other six Rangers.

After the ship sets off, Gerd and Viggo get very seasick, and Lasgol somewhat less sick; luckily they recover in a week. One morning Lasgol talks to Eicewald and Captain Olsen, who thinks that the islands they are looking for don't exist. Then they are attacked by two pirate ships. Eicewald makes a winter storm form over one of the ships, freezing everyone on board and almost sinking it. The other ship rams Olsen's ship, and the pirates come on board, though the Snow Panthers killed many of them from range before this. Viggo kills the pirate captain, and Eicewald sinks the second pirate ship. The first pirate ship is unusable because it was set on fire. The crew take some of the pirates prisoner, the rest were killed in the battle. Viggo wants to kill the prisoners, but Olsen chains them to the rowing benches to replace the rowers he lost in the battle. Camu develops the ability to camouflage a person if they are nearby.

Then they reach the Eternal Mist, a massive barrier of blinding fog that surrounds the islands ruled by the Turquoise Queen. In order to assist in navigation in the mist, Eicewald uses a talisman that the Turquoise Queen gave him. Eventually they run aground on an island because of a massive storm caused by the Turquoise Queen. They see some of her people, who have turquoise skin and bright green eyes and hair. One of their chieftains tells Eicewald that they have landed on a smaller island, not the main one where the Turquoise Queen lives. Eicewald asks for an audience with the Queen, and later a massive number of natives in canoes, led by the shaman Arrain, come to take them to her palace.

Along the way they see the dwellings of the natives, who spend much of their time underwater. In order to get into the palace, which is located inside a volcano, they go through a waterfall, which is parted by a spell. Uragh imprisons the Rangers inside magical water barriers, and is planning to kill Eicewald and the Rangers because she forbade Eicewald from coming back, though she allows Eicewald to explain why he came back. Eicewald explains the situation, and the Turquoise Queen is not convinced. She is about to kill them when Camu uses his anti-spell ability to destroy the barriers and free the Rangers. This interests the Turquoise Queen so much that she lets them live while she decides what to do. They are kept in huts overnight, and the next day let out to walk around, under guard.

Eicewald tells the Rangers the story of what happened to him in these islands when he came here before. He was shipwrecked, and the Turquoise Queen became interested in his magic. Over time they became lovers. After a while, Eicewald managed to persuade the Queen to let him go back to Norghana to continue his studies of magic. After he finishes the story, they are summoned to the Queen. She tells them that Olagar, a mage who is creating an army of transformed human/sea creature hybrids is threatening her realm, and that in order for her to help them by giving them the Star of Sea and Life and letting them leave, they must defeat this mage and destroy his army. Arrain leads them to the islands where Olagar lives. He advises them to attack stealthily, avoiding combat when possible, as the hybrids are extremely dangerous and hard to kill.

On the island, they discover that Olagar has been kidnapping the turquoise natives from Uragh's islands and using them to turn into the hybrids. They split up into several groups: Nilsa, Ingrid and Gerd are assigned to create a distraction, while Viggo and Astrid kill the guards along the way to Olagar's chamber, and Lasgol, Eicewald, Camu, and Ona kill Olagar. When they get to Olagar's chamber, they find he is also a hybrid, with the head of a squid. As the distraction, Ingrid's team set the ships in the harbor on fire. Meanwhile, with Camu's help, Lasgol kills Olagar's two acolytes, but as Eicewald is about to kill Olagar, a giant sea creature that Olagar summoned attacks them. Ona kills Olagar, and the sea creature stops attacking.

They bring Olagar's head back to the Queen as proof of his death, and in return she gives them the Star of Sea and Life. However, she places the condition that Lasgol has to be the one to return it, and that Astrid will stay with her during this time as a guarantee that Lasgol will come back with the Star. Then they go back to the port city of Oslenbag in northwest Norghana. They are met by a Norghanian force under Captain Enveras, who tells them that the People of the Ice and the Frozen Specter have attacked the capitol. They arrive at the capitol to find it besieged, but the forces inside manage to distract the People of the Ice for long enough that the Royal Rangers can attack through the south gate and form an opening for Enveras' troops, Eicewald, and the Snow Panthers to get inside the city.

Eicewald and Lasgol are summoned to the King, who tells them the city has been under siege for six weeks. The next day, they go out to help defend the walls. The Snow Panthers meet Molak and Luca; Nilsa tells Viggo that Molak and Ingrid aren't together anymore, which makes him very happy. Then the Specter attacks. Lasgol helps Eicewald again by holding the Star of Sea and Life while the Ice Magi are casting the spell to kill the Specter. This time the spell is successful, and the Specter is destroyed. The People of the Ice then retreat from the city. Then the Snow Panthers get a letter from Egil asking for their help. Ingrid decides to split the team, with Nilsa and Gerd going to help Egil and her, Viggo and Lasgol taking the Star of Sea and Life back to the Turquoise Queen so she will let Astrid go back to Norghana.