Red Wishes Black Ink

Once a year, differences between the world's many factions are decided during the week-long fight to the death known as The Granting. The champions who survive will secure a wish for their people. While some merely wish for a bountiful harvest, others seek to expand their borders, change the tides, or annihilate their neighbors.  The [Hammer Master] Cortland Finiron has just survived his tenth Granting, but at great cost. His mentor is dead, murdered by an assassin who suggests a greater game is afoot in the pyramidal city of Infinzel. Now, as Infinzel teeters on the brink of change, Cortland must balance his quest for vengeance with the demands of his ageless king. As a new champion of Infinzel, the ambitious [Logician] Carina Goldstone finds herself under Cortland’s tutelage. Carina is a fast learner—perhaps too fast for her own good—and her rise upsets many within the pyramidal city. Soon, Carina finds herself in a desperate sprint to stay one step ahead of her complicated past. Meanwhile, on the sea, the mermaid outlaw Red Tide is offered a deal: become an [Enchantress], survive the next Granting, and receive clemency for her crimes. But, in a contest where her people are hunted like animals, Red Tide will need more than an enchanted harp to escape alive. And, in the sleepy farm town of Ambergran, young Uicha de Orak learns firsthand the devastating power of wishes. When the leader of a death cult takes an interest in Uicha, he’s forced to go on the run, bringing with him a powerful spirit the gods wish forgotten. These characters, and others, will have their fates intersect at the 62nd Granting, where their desires come at the cost of blood.