Beyond the Veil: (3 Sacred Band)

In a world where a witch can turn a warrior into a flea, where gemstone frogs can rain from the sky, where no one is ever what he seems, where loyalties are ensured by curses, wizardry, and the favor of warring gods... only the immortal Tempus can guarantee an army's success. And not even Tempus can tell the good guys from the bad in Tyse, where everyone plays both ends against the middle - or if the price of victory against Mygdonia will be his Stepsons' souls in their battle BEYOND THE VEIL, third novel in the Sacred Band book series.. When a Rankan messenger is killed in Tyse, Randal, the Stepsons' pet wizard, must read the dead man's mind. What Randal learns brings Niko back from the Misty Isles of Bandara and forces Tempus and his Stepsons into an alliance unholy even by Tysian standards, with Cime the mage killer; Askelon, lord of dreams; and the Rankan Third Commando, a fighting unit so cruel it gives even the Stepsons pause. Together with Tempus' long-lost daughter, and his elemental lover, Jihan, they must venture beyond accursed Wizardwall to battle the Mygdonian Alliance and Roxane's Nisibisi witchcraft. The intrepid Band (whose central core is Tempus' beloved Stepsons) must figure out who among the Tysian locals, Rankan soldiers, and Mygdonian defectors they can trust before it's too late. Here is the third novel in Janet Morris' Sacred Band series. Set in Tyse, a town so mean and magic-ridden as to make Sanctuary seem like a singles bar, BEYOND THE VEIL features Tempus, Thieves' World most powerful and misunderstood character, and introduces Kama, his warrior daughter, as well as the deservedly infamous shock troops, the 3rd Commando.

Review :
"A fantasy series about the Sacred Band of Stepsons, an elite army modeled on the fourth-century B.C.E. Sacred Band of Thebes. The stories explore the fraught personal relationships of mixed hetero- and homosexual troops, only sometimes paired, as they fight for their commander, the immortal Tempus. Morris includes archaeological and historical details, from physical items to social practices, religion, and philosophy, to create a fantasy world that is, in many ways, more historically accurate than many popular accounts of antiquity." -- Robert W. Cape, Jr, in Classical Traditions in Science Fiction, Brett M. Rogers & Benjamin Eldon Stevens, eds., Oxford University Press "sword and sorcery reigns supreme . . . absorbing and enjoyable fantasy." -- Kitkus Reviews . "Caught Between Rebels and the Empire's Blackest Magic: Beyond the Veil: The Revised and Expanded Author's Cut by Janet Morris "[...] for all the glory of its flesh and blood characters, the beauty of prose, the literary depth and textures and levels of this classic, there is no shortage of inhumans, once-humans, half-humans, magic-working, mortals fighting in the streets, mage war, embattled gods, fire-spitting demons, shape-shifters, and a rousing night raid that reaches a powerful crescendo." -- Joe Bonadonna for World Fantasy Award winning Black Gate Magazine.