The Red Lady

She was once known as Swiftsword, fearless fighter and lover of the gypsy mercenary Valorian.

Her given name is Julill. She was a princess, eldest daughter and heir to a beautiful kingdom. Now she is a soldier’s widow and a mother.

But the fierce fighting nature of Swiftsword and the upbringing of a highborn royal still swirl within her. She may have been exiled from her home and denied a crown she thought she did not really want, but a hunger burns within her.

For a time it was a hunger for revenge, on the man she held responsible for her being brought low. Revenge proved a short lived satisfaction though. Now Julill desires more. She craves power, strength, to never again be at the mercy of men. The crown she thought she didn’t want has gained new significance in her eyes. As a woman much is denied to her. As a queen there is much she could do.

So she begins a slow careful journey back to the kingdom she was exiled from. She makes alliances along the way. Like the elf king she too reaches out a hand to the vampires. Unlike Emkel she does not care if they have not abstained from the drinking of human blood. She wants strong allies; allies who will not blanch when the time comes to take down those Julill deems her enemies. For Julill will not blanch. She has killed before and has no qualms about doing so again. She is no longer Swiftsword, the wilful young girl who ran with mercenaries and killed only to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. She is now The Red Lady and The Red Lady hungers for blood: the blood of men. They are the cause of all that is rotten in the world and they must be stopped, or at least controlled. As queen she will have the power to do either.

The dark forces that are shaping her look on with smiles or satisfaction but good forces still try to sway Julill from her ever darkening path.

Powerful witch, Mistress Oluna has her eye on her and desperately tries to make her turn away, to step on to the path of light before it is too late.

Torn between loyalty to his mother and the knowledge that she must be stopped, second son, Jareth, agonises over what to do. He knows his mother’s darkest secret. He knows why her heart is full of hate and finds he cannot help but sympathise with her.

But he is a man and in the world Julill hopes to create, once that crown is on her head, men will be classed as the enemy. He has seen his mother’s eyes turned on him in thought, assessing him with her cold gaze, wondering whether to class him as enemy or ally.

Will he look away and do nothing when her true aims become clear or will he join forces with Oluna and set himself against the mother he so desperately wants to love?

Book six of the Free Land Chronicles details Julill’s life from the death of first husband, Kamen Mortag, up to her eventual return home to reclaim her rightful throne. Will The Red Lady be satisfied once that crown is placed upon her brow or will the Dark Queen finally be roused from her restless slumbers? Will Jareth finally accept that Julill will never be the mother he hoped for and dare to go against her or will familial loyalty be the death of him?