Fotheringale Series

In a land where women are banned from the streets so that men may swordfight at will, a young rich boy loses his dissolute father in such a fight and is raised by his mother on a country estate with a group of orphan girls. When he is seven years of age he is taken to the city to learn the family business under the tutelage of the wise property manager. Eventually, he learns of the abuse of young women that has taken hold in the city due to the atmosphere of oppression that exists there, and hits upon the idea of opening an academy for working class youth of the city, to train them and equip them in preparation for challenging the power brokers who maintain the status quo. Into the mix he adds a number of girls rejected as workers on the farms of the Ruling Council, thus saving them from being sold to slavers from another land. Over time, he builds the young men and women into a formidable force and begins to take action to stop the abuse that is taking place. Ultimately, it is his own hard-won skill with a sword and the wise stewardship of the family business by the property manager that position him for taking power in Fotheringale, just in time to lead the force of young fighters he has created to oppose an army of invading barbarians. This is a story of a young man who develops a strong sense of right and virtue and uses his considerable wealth to bring about change is a country whose value system became twisted after thirty years of war.

As a 'Protector of Fotheringale', Parton Fleer, Captain of the 9th Platoon of the Kellis Corps, roams the streets of Galeia at night searching for a murderer of women.In his daytime sleep he is tortured by nightmares and he recalls his battle experiences in the land of Farben, trying to realize the cause of his misery. Despite his distress, he continues to direct the search for the serial killer, and at the same time trys to work out the difficulties in his relationship with the only woman he truly loves. With her help, he finally discovers the cause of his suffering, and then he and his love are called upon to defend their city from an invading army. The murderer is finally flushed out of hiding by the invasion, and discovered and dispatched by another Kellis trooper, who perishes in the battle for the city. Parton and his love survive,and live on to start a family, and continue to serve the land of their birth....Fotheringale.

North Fotheringale is the destination that all cadets of the Kellis Academy yearn for upon graduation, for it is in the vast forests of the north that regular engagements take place against roving bands of bandits bent on robbing merchants and travellers along the North Road. Faren Kellis, Head of the Ruling Council and the Army of Fotheringale, travels there with a group of soldiers called the Wildhearts to take part in a battle against the most infamous of the bandit gangs led by a former street-fighter of Galeia named Roe Bander. The bandit and his gang are trapped and dispatched, and while returning to the capital city of Galeia, Faren learns that a group of Kellis troopers on a journey of exploration have been captured by slavers, and he must gather a force of Wildhearts and troopers to sail to a far-away land to free the captives. To gain permission to sail down the river to the city of Malday where his troopers are held, he must win the support of the Caliph of Balistan and his tribal chiefs, which he does with a demonstration of the swordfighting skill of one of the female troopers of the 13th Army. He and his force then sail down the river and attack Malday in the dead of night, freeing the troopers and destroying the slavers in their lair.

Dana Po has lived with Faren and Magda Kellis and their children in the Northern Quarter of Fotheringale for five years, after she and two other girls were rescued by Faren Kellis and cadets of the Kellis Academy from a tailhouse in Galeia, the capital city. She longs to find her place in life, as the girls rescued with her have already, and one day she has the good fortune to overhear a conversation between Faren Kellis and an explorer named Walen Dor. She recognizes the name of Hela Trib when it is spoken by Walen and is horrified to learn that the body of her childhood friend, a trooper of the Kellis Corps, was discovered lashed to the back of her horse in West Fotheringale. Walen has discovered Hela's journal and is now searching for the home of Hela's father, Varley Trib, and hoping to find a secret store of maps the famous explorer had hidden there. In return for showing him the location of the Trib house, Walen agrees to take Dana with him into the mountains to search for the city of Calaria, whose soldiers were responsible for the death of Hela Trib. They travel to a mountain plateau where Walen is captured by Calarian soldiers, and Dana escapes to find shelter with a group of exiles forced out of the city. They recognize her abilities and select her as their queen, and with the help of the Kellis Corps, the mountain queen and her subjects march upon Calaria.

In the far eastern mountains of Fotheringale, Delva Vale spends her time wandering in the wild as a Far Scout of the Army of Fotheringale. When another scout is murdered by the lackeys of an evil prince, Delva is swept up in the mobilization to meet the threat from the principality to the north. At the same time she is preoccupied by her budding relationship with another scout and distracted by the ongoing psychological illness of her mother, who never recovered from the death of Delva's father in a swordfight in the streets of Galeia, the capital city. Delva travels to the capital city with her paramour, a scout named Tellen who was the partner of the dead scout, to bring the news of the murder to Faren Kellis, the head of the Ruling Council. They inform him of the last words of the late scout to the arrogant prince - that the 'Master of Fotheringale' would come for him, and Faren, who was given that title by one of his aides, assures Tellen that the death of his partner will be avenged. While in the capital, Delva visits her sister at the Kellis Academy and then visits their mother and sees that she is still suffering the effects of the anguish she has been unable to put behind her. Before leaving, she elicits a commitment from her sister to seek help for their mother and then she and her fellow scouts return to the east. Upon their return, they learn that soldiers from the north were encountered and defeated in the mountains, and Delva and Tellen are assigned to patrol the shore of the Eastern Sea to watch for spies that might be sent there from the north. Another incursion takes place and Faren Kellis learns that the prince, whose name is Voy, is planning an invasion at a spot on the Eastern Shore that was the location of an earlier invasion of the country during the Thirty Year War.Faren summons the forces of Fotheringale to meet the invaders at the site of the first battle and initiates a plan to seize control of the Principality of Voy. The formidable power of Fotheringale is brought to bear, and the Prince and his army are defeated. The Prince's nephew,a more honorable man, replaces Voy, and Delva and Tellen return to Galeia and find that Delva's mother has recovered from her desperation with the help of a professor from the academy. Finally, they are able to return to the Eastern Shore with peace of mind and resume their wanderings together.

Marta Frase, cousin of one of the most illustrious commanders of the Kellis Corps of Fotheringale, is serving in the 13th Army in far-away Farben and hoping to prove herself and thus repair a rift that has riven her family. When she is sent to confront bandits in the Goli Swamp, she is injured there in battle,and the trooper she loves disappears. While recovering in the mountain city of Calaria, she chances upon a map of a city far to the east she believes he was taken to, and despite the reluctance of the leaders of her country to expose themselves to unknown peoples, she sets off with two Far Scouts to try to find her love. Her cousin, Mann Frase, is notified of her quest, and feels that he owes it to the family to ensure her safety, so he gathers a force and sets off after her. For the first time they all will venture beyond Calaria and into the east .

The Gray Dales is an area in the land of Fotheringale that has always produced young people that are independent and obstinate - as well as trustworthy and loyal. Galinda Cade, a trooper of the 13th Army of Fotheringale and a daughter of the Dales, is asked by her superiors to return to her home to investigate the disappearance of children and the reported sightings of a monster. The populace believes the two are related, but Galinda and her companions, who also grew up in the Dales, soon discover the involvement of an ancient order called the Mystics in the case of the missing children and set off to find the lost ones and thwart the despicable plans of the cult. At the same time, Galinda is wondering if she can reignite a romance with a man named Pellman Beck, another child of the Dales whom she spurned some years before in order to stay with the 13th Army. With the help and support of other Protectors of Fotheringale the children are rescued and the Mystics defeated, leaving only the mystery of the monster to solve. First, though, the investigators must travel to Galeia, the capital city, for answers to another troubling question that arises out of the move against the Mystics. When they again return to the Dales, Galinda enlists the help of her former lover, and she and one of her companions descend into a mire called the Bertram Lows, find the monster and dispatch it. With all of the mysteries solved, Galinda returns to the Gray Dales where her lover awaits, and they start the life together that she rejected so many years before.