Saga of the First King

4 primary works • 6 total works

The Highwayman

by R.A. Salvatore

Published 1 March 2004

It is God's year 54, many years before the Demon Wars, in the land of Corona. The roads are unsafe to travel; goblins and bloodthirsty Powries search out human prey. Two religions struggle fiercely for control. Bran Dynard, a monk of the fledgling religion of Abelle, returns from his mission in a far-off land with a book of mystical knowledge and a beautiful and mysterious new wife. But he soon realizes that the world he left behind has changed, and his dream of spreading the wisdom he learned to his fellow monks is crushed. Forced to hide his wife and his precious book, Bran must decide whom he can trust and where he should now place his faith.Twenty years later, the situation has grown darker and more desperate. Only the Highwayman travels freely, his sword casting aside both Powries and soldiers. The people need a saviour, but is the Highwayman on a mission of mercy...or vengeance?

The Ancient

by R.A. Salvatore

Published 4 March 2008

Searching for his long-lost father, Bransen Garibond is tricked into journeying across the Gulf of Corona to the wild lands of Vanguard, where he is pressed into service in a desperate war against the brutal Ancient Badden. On a lake just below Badden’s magical ice castle, several disparate societies – dwarves, monks and barbarians - are caught up in the web of their own conflicts, and thus oblivious to his devastating plan to destroy them by releasing a tidal wave to wipe their island clean.

Bransen finds himself becoming the link between these turmoils, and if he fails, all who live on the lake will perish – and all of northern Honce willl fall under the shadow of a merciless and vengeful oppressor.

The Dame

by R.A. Salvatore

Published 18 August 2009

The vast road network of Honce, completed a decade before, had brought great optimism to the people of the land. For the first time, the many individual kingdoms, the holdings of Honce, would be brought closer together, perhaps even united. But for the last few years, those promises had become a nightmare to the folk, as two powerful lairds fought for supremacy over a hoped-for united kingdom. Bransen Garibond, the Highwayman, held little real interest in that fight. To him the warring lairds were two sides of the same coin. Whichever side won, the outcome for the people of Honce would be the same, Bransen believed. A journey north, however, taught Bransen that his views were simplistic at best, and that some things - like honour and true friendship - might truly matter. In "The Dame", Bransen's road becomes a quest for the truth of Honce and of himself, a quest to put right over wrong. This path is fraught with confusion and fraud, and a purposeful blurring of morality by those who would seek to use the Highwayman's extraordinary battle skills and popularity among the common folk for their own nefarious ends.

The Bear

by R.A. Salvatore

Published 17 August 2010

The war of Honce drags on, and the roads and seas are littered with bodies. To everyone's stunned disbelief, Yeslnik the Fool has tipped the war's scales in his favour. The reign of the newly self-appointed King Yeslnik is already distinguished as the most bloody and merciless in Honce history. Trapped, Dame Gwydre and Father Artolivan concoct a desperate plot to join forces with Laird Ethelbert, the lesser of two vicious evils. But Ethelbert's paid assassins slew Jameston Sequin and nearly did the same to Bransen. Embittered by it all, Bransen seeks to extricate himself from the selfish goals of all other combatants. But in an odd twist of fate and crossed loyalties, Bransen sees in his old nemesis, Bannagran - the Bear of Honce and the man who slew his adoptive father - a darker image of his own heart. Allies and battle lines become tangled, motives grow indistinguishable as old friends become enemies and old enemies become allies.

Demonwars: First Heroes

by R.A. Salvatore

Published 18 February 2014

In The Highwayman, Salvatore takes his readers back to his signature world of Corona many years before the DemonWars, introducing a fascinating new hero. The roads are unsafe to travel; goblins and bloodthirsty Powries search out human prey. Two religions struggle fiercely for control. Only the Highwayman travels freely, his sword casting aside both Powries and soldiers. The people need a saviour, but is the Highwayman on a mission of mercy...or vengeance? In The Ancient, Bransen Garibond is tricked into journeying across the Gulf of Corona to the wild lands of Vanguard, where he is pressed into service in a desperate war. If Branson fails, all who live on the lake will perish, and all of northern Honce will fall under the shadow of the merciless and vengeful Samhaists.

Demonwars: The First King

by R.A. Salvatore

Published 4 November 2014