The Vulture and the Bastard

Synopsis

The Vulture and the Bastard open the Blood of Tharsis with the birth of an omen. In Tharsis's arrabal, far from the marbles of the palace and the rotten oath of nobility, Arhan lives as a blacksmith's apprentice under the protection of Orthon, the man who brought him up as his son. He's nineteen, fragua's hands and a closed look and a silver stick on his left temple that nobody's been able to explain to him. To him, the world ends up with an anvil, with hot iron and with the streets where the common survive without asking about the affairs of the kings. But the death of Arghas II cuts the foundations of Tharsis. While the kingdom contains his breath and noble houses start to count swords, rumors and bastards, a silver moon rises up onto the circular town as if old gods had been looking back at men. On the rooftops of the arrabal, a leonado vulture waits. No pounding. He doesn't fly. Just watch, as if I have known the name of the dead man who's been put to death. When the men at Khadur House come to the low neighborhood asking about the blacksmith, Arhan understands something has been broken forever. They are no tiddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddThey seek an impossible boy, a secret bastard of the dead king, a threat born before the new throne can settle. Orthon lies to protect him. Arhan's been watching from far. And for the first time, she understands that his simple life was perhaps never his. While Tharvan, a legitimate son of Arghas II, goes up to a crown that weighs more than a wet armor, Queen Khadissa moves her pieces with cold patience. Behind her are the Khadur, Orient, dark altars and an ambition that will not be conformed to govern Tharsis: she wants to re-govern them. The atlant houses shut up, figure or tremble. The old lineage remember the fall of Argantia, though they no longer know how to distinguish memory from curse. Amidst that intrigue, Arhan remains unaware of his true birth. He doesn't know his blood condemns him and elevates him. He ignores that his name, still hidden, can set fire to the kingdom. And she ignores that somewhere in the past Kalibar sleeps, the oricelk's sword coming from the sunken days of Argantia, a living relic that doesn't forgive whoever wants her so much. The Vulture and the Bastard is the story of a broken innocence, a stained crown before they touch a front and a boy that starts to be chased before they even know who she is. At Tharsis, blood doesn't forget. The stones listen. And as soon as the vulture waits on the roof, it's because fate has already begun to eat.