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Like his physician father, Garth Baxtor is gifted with The Touch. By laying his hands upon a person, Garth can sense what dwells within: pain, illness, joy, or sorrow. It is through the application of The Touch that the gifted minister helps the sick of Escator by diagnosing ills and promoting healing.

By decree of the royal treasury, for a period of three weeks each year, physicians of Escator - in lieu of taxes - are required to attend to the needs of the criminals who labor endlessly in the Veins, the labyrinth of mines carved deep into the earth and from which they harvest the gloam-a priceless commodity upon which the fortunes of Escator depend.

It is during one such period of mandatory service that Joseph Baxtor decides his son is old enough to accompany him to the Veins as his apprentice. Garth is delighted. It's a chance to escape the dull and dreary surroundings of his quiet village for the delights of the capital city of Ruen. Joseph has been ordered to attend King Cavor himself. Garth will actually meet the king in person!

As he discovers all too soon, however, the task at hand is a grim one. Descending into the mines for the first time, Garth could hardly be less prepared for what he encounters: thousands of men laboring like animals in dreadful conditions deep below the earth's surface.

Applying his hands to the wound of one prisoner known only as Lot No. 859, Garth is stunned by what he discovers. This man is no common criminal. But then, who is he? Could it be? After all these years?

Prince Maximillian?

The answer to the riddle will involve Garth in a harrowing journey out of the Veins and into the Land of Dreams as he tries to resolve the question of the identity of Lot No 859. In the process, Garth will solve a centuries-old mystery-a mystery that will pit one king against another and shake the Kingdom of Escator to its foundations.

Sara Douglass has won legions of fans around the world for her epic tales of sorcery, forbidden love, and heart-pounding action. Now, with the The Devil's Diadem, she reveals her biggest adventure yet.

In a world gone mad, is the Devil's word the only one you can trust?

A foolish monk stole the devil's favourite diadem and the devil wants it back.

It is mid-twelfth century Europe and Maeb Langtofte joins an aristocratic household to attend Adelie, the wife of the Earl of Pengraic. The earl is a powerful Lord of the Marches, the dark Welsh borderlands.

Then a plague that has swept Europe overtakes England and as life descends into chaos and civil disorder, Maeb is about to discover that the horrors she survived at Pengraic Castle were but a prelude to the terrifying maelstrom which now envelops her and all of her countryfolk.

Hell has come to desecrate England, and the only thing that can possibly foil its plans are the wits of one lonely, isolated and terrified woman.

"You must know that Sara Douglass is the brilliant author of several best-selling fantasy series. She has earned her well-deserved awards and reputation by writing on a grand scale-but I'll let you in on a little secret: she is one fabulous short story writer! Although you can easily find her books, for she is prolific and well-published novelist, you'd have to dig a bit to find the glittering gems that are her short stories. Until now. The Hall of the Lost Footsteps is a must-read! The stories will simply knock you out." - Jack Dann

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Karen R. Brooks
• Of Fingers and Foreskins - (1996) - shortstory
• The Tower Room - shortstory
• The Field of Thorns - (2000) - shortstory
• This Way to the Exit - (2008) - novelette
• Fire Night - shortstory
• The Rise of the Seneschal - shortstory
• The Wars of the Axe - shortstory
• How Axis Found His Axe - shortstory
• How the Icarii Found Their WIngs - shortstory
• The Coroleans - shortstory
• The Mistress of Marwood Hagg - (2003) - shortstory
• Black Heart - shortstory
• St Uncumber - (2001) - shortstory
• The Evil Within - (1998) - novelette
• The Hall of Lost Footsteps - shortstory and Angela Slatter
• The Silence of the Dying - essay

Over the hot southern land of Ashdod looms the shadow of Threshold, a massive pyramid which the Magi of Ashdod are building to propel themselves into Infinity, a plane of existence that holds the promise of technological magics and supposedly unimaginable power. For decades, thousands of slaves have lost their lives in the construction of this edifice. Now that this construction is almost complete, the Magi need only to add the finishing touches, and they will let nothing stand in the way of achieving their desire.

The Master of the Magi, a young and ambitious man, ready to do anything for power, sees the glassworker slave Tirzah as a plaything, a trifle to relieve the tensions of the day. He senses that under her placid façade Tirzah is hiding something, but try as he may to see beneath her surface, she remains an enigma.

What he does not know is that her secret is the knowledge of forbidden magic. That she senses the inherent power in glass and can communicate with it-and that the glass in Threshold screams to her in pain.

For it knows what neither Tirzah nor any of the Magi suspect. That something waits in Infinity, watching, biding its time, and when the final glass plate is laid and the capstone cemented in blood, it plans to use Threshold to step from Infinity into Ashdod...

For a thousand years the Acharites have lived prosperous lives, protected by vast and insurmountable mountains and the powerful Seneschal, guardians of the mysterious Way of the Plow and intermediaries with the great god Artor.

But now Achar's security is threatened as a millennia-old prophecy predicting the return of the Forbidden Ones flares into life. An unnatural winter grips the land as the Ice Lord Gorgrael moves his armies of demonic wraiths and IceWorms south. Achar crumbles under Gorgrael's murderous onslaught: it seems that no one can stop him.

Faraday, betrothed of Achar's War Lord, Duke Borneheld, is as frightened as everyone else. While fleeing to safety with Attis, legendary leader of the Axe-Wielders and hated half-brother of Borneheld, Faraday learns that all she has been taught about her people's history has been based on lies. Leaving the company of Axis--a man she secretly loves, although it would mean his death to reveal it--Faraday embarks on a journey that will forever change both her life and those of her people.

Axis is a true hero, in every sense of the word. On his shoulders lies the double burden of prophecy and war. Having fulfilled the first part of the prophecy by becoming the StarMan, he now must reunite the three races inhabiting his world.

It is his destiny to lead an army against his evil half-brother, to regain control of Tencendor, once the greatest land in the world.

It is his destiny to be caught between the two women he loves, one the epitome of gentility, beauty, and intelligence, the other a fierce warrior with a cunning wit.

And it is his destiny to be thwarted at every turn by the vicious Goragel, an insane monster bent on destroying all that Axis works to preserve.

Axis is the StarMan of prophecy and legend, destined to lead the three races of his world to unite as one people. The Prophecy foretold that Axis would defeat his half-brother, reclaim the land of Tencendor, and find a traitor in his camp. The Prophecy has also foretold of many a choice that Axis must make in order to fulfill his destiny... but neglected to mention that one of those choices would be to choose the love of either the beautiful and courageous Faraday or the feisty and hauntingly enchanting Azhure.

To Faraday he had pledged his love and a place by his side as ruler of Tencendor; to Azhure he had given his children, his time, and his devotion.

While Azhure explores her newfound powers as an Icarii Enchantress, and Faraday replants the ancient forests of the Mother, the evil Goragel is plotting Axis's downfall, invading the sky with ice and terror and the flesh-hungry Gryphons. His most daring move is to follow prophecy, to taunt Axis with the pain of his beloved. But which beloved woman will Goragel choose... and will she be the one whose death will distract Axis from saving the world?

Rescued from unspeakable horror, Ishbel Brunelle has devoted her life to the Order of the Coil, a sacred cult that reads the future in the entrails of its human sacrifices. But the Serpent has loftier plans for the archpriestess, and an eerie, eldritch warning: Prepare for the Lord of Elcho Falling.

Perils abound in a realm beset by treachery, and above all looms the DarkGlass Mountain -- once known as the Threshold -- as the terrible Dark God Kanubai prepares to emerge from his prison in exile.

Tencendor is no more. The land is gone. But a few SunSoars remain, and a new foe walks the world.

In a time of magic and danger, three new heroes have stepped forward--Ishbel Brunelle, priestess of the Serpent Coil; Isaiah, the Tyrant of Isembaard; and Maximilian, the Lord of Elcho Falling. Yet despite their best efforts, the Dark God Kanubai has risen. And worse yet, war approaches--backed by the evil, insidious DarkGlass Mountain, hordes of insatiable Skraelings ravage the land.

While the trio struggles to keep its armies and alliances alive, the SunSoars have their own challenges, including the chance to rejoin the magical Star Dance at long last, and the appearance of the Lealfast, long-lost kin to the Icarii. The Lealfast and the Icarii may be friends... or deadly enemies. And as tensions rise between the two races, Axis SunSoar revives his elite Strike Force in a desperate bid to stop the darkness.

Tencendor is no more. The land is gone. But a few SunSoars still remain, and a new foe walks the world.

Ishbel Brunelle, priestess of the Serpent Coil, and Maximilian, the Lord of Elcho Falling, have raised the magic of Elcho Falling, and found new allies against the darkness in the mysterious Lealfast. And more crucially still, Axis SunSoar, former god and current hero, has rediscovered the magical Star Dance and revived his legendary Strike Force to push back the evil hordes commanded by the DarkGlass Mountain.

But their enemy grows stronger through blood and betrayal, the Lealfast have their own agenda, and when unexpected treachery threatens, Axis SunSoar must face a darkness greater than any he has ever known.

The Black Plague. The Pestilence. Disease and death haunt every town and village across 14th century Europe and none are immune from its evil. Some see the devastation of their world as a sign from God for Man's wickedness.

But Brother Thomas Neville sees this swath of death as something much more. Neville is a man beset by demons. Or is it angels? He has had a visitation from none other than the Archangel Michael, who commands Thomas to a mission. This mission will take Neville across the length and breath of the continent in a desperate bid to find the means to stop the minions of Satan who have found a doorway out of Hell and are preparing to venture forth, to try and seize this world in preparation for an assault on Heaven itself.

As Thomas Neville encounters angels and demons, saints and witches, he comes to realize that the armies of God and Satan are arraying themselves for the final battle... and that his soul is to be the battleground.

The question is, has Neville picked the truly good side?

The Middle Ages. Finally, the Black Plague has passed and for a while it seems evil has been defeated. Europe recovers; prosperity returns, trade resumes, and people slowly recover from the effects of the plague. Then, just as the Church relaxes its guard, war spreads across Europe. Widespread heresies challenge the authority of the Church. Revolts and rebellions threaten to topple the established monarchies and overturn the social order of Europe. And then the plague returns, worse than ever.

Thomas Neville, a neurotic warrior-priest, eventually discovers the cause. The minions of the Devil have been scattered throughout European society during the confusion of the Black Death. His task is to discover the identities of these shapeshifters so that the Church can move against them, but it is a dangerous task. These are master shapeshifters, perfect at their craft, and Neville can never be certain of who he should trust.

The world that the former monk Thomas Neville knows is crumbling about him. The Holy Mother Church of Rome is losing its power and men are coming to question the nature of religion and the role of those who rule them by sword and cross.

Thomas knows that it is not merely the dawning of a new time for men to try to think and judge for themselves but it is a direct result of the rift in the fabric of the world, where demons have escaped their prison and are trying to breach the very gates of heaven. The great archangel Michael gave Thomas the task to find the demons who now dwell in human form and expose their evil natures.

To accomplish this he had to turn his back on one set of vows and return to his once lofty noble connections. In doing so, his life is caught up with his childhood friend Harold Bollinbroke, the fair young "Prince Hal"—who might be more (or less) than he seems. And he meets the fair young Margaret, an enigmatic beauty who he takes to wife--not out of love, but as a means to discover if she is one of those who would destroy mankind.

Old friends, a new love, and temptations that will try his conscience. And his very soul.

For Thomas is beginning to think that all that he knows may not be true. Faced with mortal love and friendships that he desperately wants and fears, he knows that time is growing short.

And the choice that he makes will reshape the world.

Ancient Greece: A place where the gods hold mortal life cheap, mere playthings to amuse, delight, and abuse at their will.

But those puny mortals are not wholly devoid of power and at the core of their fabulous city-states lies the Labyrinth, where they can shape the powers of the heavens to their own design. When Theseus entered the Labyrinth and came away with the prize of freedom and his beloved Adrianne, Mistress of the Labyrinth, his future seemed assured... Until he abandoned her for the unforgivable sin of bearing him only a daughter, and the world seemed to change. From that day forward, all the Labyrinths in the ancient world started to decay. It slowly became clear that power was fading from the city-states.

Was it the natural decline that comes to all cultures or was it because the power of the Labyrinth had been corrupted by a woman spurned?

A hundred years pass--Troy has fallen and the Trojans are a scattered and humbled people. The warrior Brutus is of the line of kings and gods. He wears the golden kingship bands of Troy proudly--but they are his only mementos of a former glory, for he is a man without a country and is left little else but pride and a memory of the latent power that he could wield if but given a chance. When he receives a god-sent vision of a distant shore where he can rebuild the ancient kingdom, he will move heaven and earth to reach his destiny.

Ever eastward he is drawn, to a lovely and mystical green land that offers him a haven--and a dream of power and conquest. Nothing will deter him... not even the entreaties of the young princess whom he took as his wife and bedded against her will. First her hatred--and now her love--torment and bind him. She is the only one who realizes the danger he is stepping into, and she will do anything to save him... and his son, whom she carries in her womb.

For in the mists of Albion there lies a woman of power--a woman who has used her siren call to cloud Brutus's mind and has her own reasons for luring the warrior to these lush shores....

She is the long-descended granddaughter of Adrianne, and she has in her heart a hatred that has been passed down for generations. Her plans for Brutus will enact a revenge that could destroy the gods themselves.

If Brutus makes the journey successfully, it will be the next step in the Game of the Labyrinth and might start a complicated contest of wills that could span centuries....

From ancient Greece they came, remnants of the glorious Trojans. Led by Brutus, Kingman, holder of the bands of gold that wield the very magic of the Gods, these travelers are bowed but not broken, and they have come to Albion to begin anew. A vision of beauty called them to create a new Troy, and when they landed on the shores of the land that became Britain, they found an old magic that was fading. And so they began to construct a new Labyrinth, a place of magic that will bring unimaginable power to those who can control it.

The temptress who brought Brutus to this land seeks to use him for her own purposes, but in that she fails, for it is the bride of Brutus who dooms the completion of the labyrinth... and sends all the players in this drama--handsome Brutus, his beautiful wife, Cornelia, and the sensuous and deadly Genvissa--into a hell of death and rebirth, until the Labyrinth is completed and the ancient magic is set free.

A thousand years pass. Cathedrals rise in place of mud and wattle huts, hymns to saints replace odes to Celtic and Greek gods. But the magic from the dawn of time waits, and the players are not yet done with their destinies. They have new faces and new bodies, but old souls--and not all who have come back remember their parts in this drama. There are kings and princes, deadly court intrigues, and ancient powers awoken.

And a warrior across the sea who only waits for his opportunity to finish what was started centuries before...

Darkwitch Rising is the third title in Sara Douglass's compelling Troy Game series, a riveting historical fantasy series of love and revenge set against the very fabric of time itself.

Britian. An ancient land. Most think they know its history. But few suspect and fewer still know the truth.

For back in the mists of time came Brutus, last of the Trojan kings, who was armed with the knowledge of how to construct a magical Labyrinth that could rival the might of the gods. He was drawn to this place by the alluring sorceress Genvissa and together they almost succeeded in creating the Labyrinth. But in the end they were thwarted by Brutus's wife Cornelia, who understood the danger to the land. Her actions however trapped them all into a endless cycle of death and rebirth until the magic of the Labyrinth is completed.

Ages pass. Time and again the players have come close to victory but each time there is a new wrinkle to stay the fulfillment of power.

The Now that these soul travelers arrive in is a most unique one. The English are at war, not with a foreign power but amongst themselves; a mighty Civil War that threatens to destroy a nation. A great pestilence is upon the land and the newly restored Charles II sits upon the throne trying to hold chaos at bay... and he is one of the major players in this drama.

And he is not alone.

1940. The skies above London are filled with German planes on nightly raids, a Blitz that brings a barrage of bombs that pound the city into rubble. Each morning Londoners face the night's handiwork and though they are presented with the possibility of sudden death, they are determined to fight the evil that threatens to destroy their nation. They struggle to live normal lives amid the terror and chaos.

But is it only Hitler's Luftwaffe and the Blitz that is responsible for all the death and destruction that the city is facing?

Brutus, the Greek Kingman who brought the bands of power to the isle of Alba millennia ago once again walks the streets of London, this time as an American major. The men and women who are his eternal companions (and sometimes lovers and enemies) have all been reborn in this time and place. They have come together for one last battle to finally complete the magical Labyrinth buried at the heart of the city. Half completed and resonating with an evil power, the Maze calls to them to complete the Game and possibly set all the players free. As Brutus works to find a solution that will end his age-old pain he comes to realize that there is a new power that walks the land. It is strong, hungry, and it has its own agenda.

And by its actions could change the world forever.

The land of Tencendor has been united for more than forty years, thanks to Axis, who is the legendary Starman. He defeated Gorgrael and brought peace to the three races--and upon fulfilling his destiny, Axis and his consort Azhure retired to the ethereal sphere in the heavens, and ceded his authority to their son Caelum.

But the path of the son is not necessarily that of the father. Caelum is untried and has known nothing but peace during his lifetime. And while the three races seem to be at peace, there are undercurrents of jealousy and bitter memories buried just beneath the surface.

So when strange powers begin to manifest in their world, and threaten the destruction of all he holds dear, Caelum will have to find the strength to fight this threat--and to fight his mortal brother Drago, who is not as powerless as he appears to be. Something killed their sister, and Caelum knows Drago is the culprit--but the Supreme Ruler of the land must have proof, and Caelum has none.

Caelum desperately tries to juggle saving the world with proving his brother killed their sister, but time grows short and the demons are drawing near.

Enchanters and gods alike are helpless as the Timekeeper Demons lay waste to Tencendor.

There must be hope somewhere, but no-one knows where to find it. Caelum and his parents go to Star Finger, hoping to discover the mountain's ancient secrets. Zared tries to help his people, but loses that which he loves most to the appetites of the Timekeepers. Meanwhile, Faraday grows fearful, wondering if she will be trapped in her previous fate. Must she lose everything for this land.

Qeteb waits, as he has waited tens of thousands of years, for the StarSon... for revenge... for the hunt through the Maze. Death lurks in every twist of the Maze, but only those who have the courage to endure death can learn the secrets of the ancient Enemy.

For countless millennia the Star Dance and the TimeKeeper Demons have battled their way across the universe, destroying innumerable planets, and laying waste to civilizations across the cosmos. The forces that power the Star Dance have chosen Tencendor as the final battleground, and the people of Tencendor huddle in Sanctuary, a magical place created to shield all living things from the wrath of the monstrous Demons. Their only hope? The renegade DragonStar and his companions who will go forth to do battle.

But what DragonStar does not know is that there is a traitor who dwells within Sanctuary who is poised to open the haven to the Demons. And whose hatred for all that is good could undo the cosmos.