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The Armies of Daylight by Barbara Hambly

PROLOGUE
When the wizard Ingold crossed the Void between worlds to save the infant Prince
Tir from the destruction of Gae, Gil Patterson and Rudy Solis tried to help him.
But one of the monstrous, evil Dark crossed behind him, and they were all forced
to flee back to the world of magic from which the wizard came.
It was a world where magic worked and where the loathsome Dark were destroying
humanity, after having lain almost forgotten in underground lairs for three
thousand years. And it was a world where the only hope for mankind lay in the
distant, ancient stone Keep of Dare, built to resist the previous ravages of the
Dark.
The King had fallen in Gae. Now Chancellor Alwir was the Regent, as brother to
young Queen Minalde. Vying for power was the Bishop Govannin, fanatic leader of
the Straight Faith. And both Alwir and the Bishop feared Ingold.
The road to the Keep was a hell of cold and danger, with both the Dark and the
barbarian White Raiders taking toll on those who struggled through the freezing
mud. But Gil found herself accepted as one of the Guards. Rudy won the love of
Minalde and discovered that he had wizard powers. He became a student of Ingold.
Once the remnant of humanity was established precariously in the Keep, Ingold
and Rudy set out for Quo, the city where the wizards ruled and protected all
their ancient lore. There had been no word from that city, and no magic of
Ingold's could reach through the veils of illusion guarding it. But when they
reached Quo, after two thousand miles of marching through hardship and danger,
they found the city in ruinsЧthe Dark had been there. Of the wizards, only
Lohiro remained to meet them. And Lohiro was possessed by the Dark. In a bitter
struggle, Ingold managed to destroy Lohiro.
Ingold sent out a desperate mental summons for any wizards of any degree of
ability. Then he and Rudy began the long struggle back to the Keep.
During their absence, Gil had used her training as a scholar to investigate the
old records, looking for some clue as to how the ancient Dare of Renweth had
defeated the Dark. Together with Minalde, who had a touch of the mysterious
memory of past events that was supposedly inherited by only a few men, she found
the ancient workshops of the wizard-engineers who had built the Keep. And she
found artifacts of all lands, most without apparent use.
When Ingold and Rudy returned, they found a ragtag assembly of wizards,
half-trained witches, and village healers waiting to become the Wizards' Corps
under them. Ingold realized that the crystals Gil had found were the ancient
source of artificial light. And Rudy seized upon a collection of parts which he
assembled into a flame thrower, a possible weapon against the Dark.
Alwir used the discovery as an excuse to determine that the wizards must spy out
the Nest of the Dark at Gae. Ingold, knowing the folly of the plan but unable to
deter Alwir, began trying to create a cloaking-spell that might protect the
wizards against the Dark.
PART ONE
THE QUESTION AND THE ANSWER
CHAPTER ONE