Usurper: Book One in the Barren Sands Saga - Paperback

by Aaron T. Brownell (Author)

A near dystopian future just reemerging into a neo-industrial age is the framework for a tale of global power and conquest. Anistasia, the untrustworthy, scheming daughter of a long-forgotten family aches for the power of kings and queens. Aches for more than the minor power of rulers only moving kingdoms, but the power to control the world. Anistasia's plans see her worm her way into the kingdom of Ayr. As its new queen, she sets out on her quest to reclaim the awesome power that destroyed the previous age. To do this, she will need to conquer the original six kingdoms of the land and unlock the vault buried deep in the City of Bleached Bones. Accidentally finding themselves on the opposite side of the queen's plans, Quinn and Bernard stumble across Anistasia's plans while collecting a bounty sheet on a thief. The parchment they find on the thief sets the duo free spirited swordsmen off on a haphazard hunt for more information and the development of a plan to create problems for the Dread Queen of Ayr. With a host of sorceresses, assassins, and dodgy characters set in their path at every turn, just staying alive presents the two with a challenge. It's up to Quinn and Bernard to figure out the mystery presented them all while Queen Anistasia destroys the Kingdom of Neeron and marches the Ayr army father south to take on Oban, and collect her second scepter. The second scepter of the six needed to grasp ultimate power and control the world.