The Skillseed

Arûn is a world where the Power is to be found everywhere. Everyone can sense it, and a quarter of all its inhabitants can use at least one of the Hundred Talents. One in every hundred has enough strength and skill to call themselves a mage.

Sulian Quillannin is one such man. He is a master of the talents which allow him to affect the thoughts of others. Once, he lived in the City of Gates, and was a man of wealth and influence. But he walked away from that life, and vowed never to return.

Then one morning, a plea comes from an old friend, and Sulian must set off on a dangerous journey to the conquered city of Adripoor. With him go an adventurer capable of shaping gates between dimensions, and a lethal warrior woman.

In Adripoor, Alia Alteri and her twin Maya seek a way out of the poor quarter of the Saltmarket. But when Alia inherits the memories of a dying man, she finds that she carries knowledge in her head that factions among the city's rulers will kill to uncover.

Gradually, both Sulian and Alia discover they are pawns in a deadly battle between two immortals.