A Stranger to Command

In this prequel to Crown Duel, Vidanric Renselaeus, fifteen-year-old Marquis of Shevraeth, finds himself sent across the continent to a military academy in Marloven Hess, a kingdom known for its violent history. Vidanric is used to civilized life in pleasant Remalna - except that the evidence is increasingly clear that the civilization is only on the surface. Too many young, smart heirs have suffered accidents of late, and the evidence is beginning to point to the king, Galdran, who has grandiose plans for expansion. In Marloven Hess, no one can pronounce his real name, so he ends up being called by his title, Shevraeth. There are no marquises or dukes or barons in this kingdom, and no one has the slightest interest in Remalna. Or in foreigners. Until very recently, the academy was closed to outsiders. But the king - also fifteen, and recently come to his throne after a nasty civil war - wants him there. Learning about command turns out to be very different than Shevraeth had assumed, and the Marlovens, who are going through political and social change at all levels, are not at all what he expected. He makes friends as well as enemies; experiences terror and laughter as well as challenges on the field and off. He discovers friendship, loyalty - and romance. All the while greater events in the world are moving inexorably toward conflagration, drawing the smartest of the young people into key positions - whether they want it or not. They're going to have to be ready Vidanric Renselaeus, Marquis of Shevraeth, is a courtly, well-mannered teen coached in the noble art of dueling. Growing up in a court that on the surface seems civilized under an increasingly despotic king, he is sent by his father to the infamous military academy in Marloven Hess. He expects to be reading theories about statecraft, but finds that he is going to learn about military command from the inside—and finally, what it really means to be king. In this prequel to Crown Duel , the reader learns what made the elegant Vidanric into the enigmatic Marquis of Shevraeth. This prequel to Crown Duel is about the early life of Vidanric Renselaeus, Marquis of Shevraeth, who as a courtly, well-mannered teen coached in the noble art of dueling, finds himself thrown into the infamous cavalry command academy in Marloven Hess. There, instead of reading theories about statecraft, he is forced to learn about command from the inside--and what it means to be king. "This exciting prequel to Crown duel relates the early king-making adventures of the young Marquis of Shevraeth when he is sent to a military academy in the faraway warrior kingdom Marloven Hess."--Page 4 of cover