The Crystal Sarcophagus

Nelda, an orphan of the "Mother Peoples," is raised by a mysterious outsider who has lived in the far southern forest of the province of Maternalia for the past 200 years. After a mysterious and deadly sickness begins to ravage the province, the attention of the Aquilan governor, a man about which there is far more than meets the eye, turns south to the precious sap of the godtrees that Nelda has learned is connected to the beating heart of the world. Soon Nelda will be locked in a struggle with the oldest enemy of mankind both for her survival and the survival of the world as she knows it.

In the capital city of the Maternalian province, Quintus, the Aquilan governor's son, is growing tired of living in his father's shadow. Shortly after his mother falls sick with the quickly spreading "fire palsy," his father becomes obsessed with the power of his position and rumors of a cure that lies half a world away in the province's barbarian south. Soon Quintus will come face to face with a young barbarian girl who will change the course of his life and show him that life holds infinitely more value than he ever thought was possible.