The Idecis

by Robin Hardy

While on a routine census sweep of a star system, space-station anthropologist Cassandra Uland crash lands on a planet that has suffered an unknown ecological disaster, rendering it mostly desert. She is befriended by Nex, a native man whom the rest of the population shuns as a cannibal.After Nex saves Cassandra’s life in defiance of the Council, she discovers in his possession a mysterious golden box called the Idecis, revered for its mystical powers. Everyone wants it, but no one, including Nex, knows how to use it. When Cassandra stumbles onto the key of the Idecis, she finds that it unlocks not only the purpose of this strange box but the origin of the world’s disaster and the present evil that lies waiting in a desert cavern. In the midst of the ensuing struggle, a rescue ship arrives for Cassandra. The question that looms for her will the cannibal let her go? Robin Hardy is the author of the Annals of Lystra, the Latter Annals of Lystra, the Streiker Saga, the Sammy Series, The Idecis, Padre and its sequel, His Strange Ways, and Unknown Name, Unknown A Wimsey Reade Mystery. She is also the editor of W.W. Melton’s classic devotional, Sifted But Saved.

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 3, 2008

About the author

I've written a new series! It's a distant sequel to The Annals of Lystra (begun in Chataine's Guardian) and The Latter Annals (begun in Nicole of Prie Mer). This is where it begins:

Thirty-five years after the assassination of Henry, Surchatain of Lystra, the province is no more and its capital Westford a shadow of its medieval greatness. With the fever now ravaging the palace, the army, and the town, a new Surchatain has ascended the throne of Westford, requiring a loyalty oath for all his subjects and soldiers.

Efran, Captain of the Red Regiment of the Army of Westford, is Polonti—a member of the brown-skinned, black-haired race generally regarded with contempt by Southerners on the Continent, including many in Westford. Knowing of the loyalty oath required on pain of death, Efran lays plans to leave once he has recovered from the fever himself.

But Efran is hindered by entanglements with the Surchatain’s two daughters—one who despises him and one who adores him.

He is appointed guardian of one Chataine. When the palace begins crumbling on its foundations, Efran takes his charge and a street urchin to an abandoned fortress south of Westford in the midst of wolf territory. While he gathers more homeless children at the fortress, the other Chataine prepares to lead an army against him for the legendary treasure hidden in the desolate Abbey of St. Benedict on the Sea.

The Stories of the Abbey of St. Benedict on the Sea comprise 36 novellas, each around 50,000 words, that make for one continuous story from the beginning to a definite end. ​To introduce this series, I'm offering free pdf and epub downloads of all the stories. Each pdf includes links, pronunciations, maps, and an illustration with notes.  (The epubs  contain all of the above except maps.)

Reviews

[Robyn Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wholly imaginative and profound. Another Hardy book that I had a hard time putting down.