Copper Rain - Everspyyre #1
T. Lee Messick
Publisher: StrangeWorlds
Summary
Street hustler, Kalan Laurelbane, has been at his game for more than a hundred years. More than enough to time to forget what he'd done to his father. Now, two strangers looking for a wizard to save them from a nasty drought they say could have worldwide consequences. After being caught by the local magistrate and told that he will be hanged for his crimes, it becomes apparent to the strangers that he is the wizard they seek. Kalan, unable to convince himself that he has the power to save the world from a devastating drought, wonders how can he recover a lost artifact stolen by a chimera controlled by a mad wizard bent on becoming the next Emperor of Aerolia? Amad-Dûr, the Magistrate of Yuln, runs a clean city and wants to keep it that way to ascend to the throne as Emperor of Aerolia. Kalan's swindling ways threaten that plan. As Kalan struggles to make enough money to go north in search of his mother, he must elude the city guards and the ire of the Magistrate. Amad-Dûr has another problem, he needs someone with even the simplest of training in the arcane arts to perform a spell to control the chimera that has stolen a harp that calls the rain. Kalan's choice is clear, or so he thought. He must help the Magistrate with his spell or his friends will certainly die slowly and painfully. In doing so, he might doom the whole world to an arid death controlled by a tyrannical emperor who commands a chimera.