Book 1

City of Night

by Chris Bunch

Published 31 December 2010
The legend was that the city of Naucratis had been built in a single week, by magicians working in concert. The legend was false. The city had been built by slaves, quarrying stone from land more than a league away, beyond the swamps that surrounded it. But the truth was soon forgotten as the city grew, becoming famous as the crossroads of the world. Great ships, full of the treasures of the world, plied its canals and waterways, and with them came sorcery, music, art - and also rogues and adventurers. Now Naucratis is a city of the night, a place of shadows and whispers, schemers and murderers. For some it is a place of evil; for others it breathes the essence of life itself. For it has become consumed by a lust for power; and Naucratis is about to become a city of nightmare.