A summary of "Wind Reapers" by Alexey Pekhov

This book is a dark fantasy from 2008. The text reveals the story of fugitive soldiers, surviving mages, and brutal renegades fleeing from enemies across the vastness of the shattered Empire.

The novel won the Silver Caduceus award at the Star Bridge festival in 2008. It continues the Wind and Sparks book series, taking second place.

Meeting in the rain

Ranger Ga-nor and Guard Luk trudge through a relentless downpour. The soldiers eat rats, freeze, and hide from enemy patrols. Soon they encounter Imperial Knights under the command of the young Milord Rando Rei Vallion. Rando’s squad is escaping pursuit from the Nabatean army. The soldiers take up defensive positions in an empty, abandoned village.

The mage Jurgon discovers a hidden threat. Dozens of corpses lie beneath the floor of the local temple. A bloody battle with the reanimated undead ensues. The corpses attempt to tear the soldiers to pieces. Jurgon burns down the basement storage with a liquid flame spell. Nabator’s necromancers are hot on their heels. Ga-nor goes on a forest reconnaissance mission.

In the forest, the ranger finds a dead necromancer, impaled to the trunk of a spruce tree with a magical staff. Ga-nor encounters the Cursed One — Mitifa Danami, nicknamed the Child Slayer. Mitifa demands the surrender of the imperial detachment’s commanders in exchange for the lives of the infantrymen. The knights refuse to surrender. The warriors split into small groups and hastily flee into the woods.

The Shadow of a Dead Wife

Gunslinger Ness mourns the loss of his wife, Laen. Together with the young Healer Shen, the mage Rona, the enormous swamp warrior Gbabak, and the small beast Yumi, he hunts down those responsible for his wife’s death. Ness holds the Cursed Typh, Sorita’s Assassin, captive. Typh’s soul is trapped in the male body of a villager named Pork. The gunslinger spares the apostate’s life, hoping to discover the true killer.

Ness’s group spends the night in an empty settlement. During the night, the archer is attacked by a kir-lle spirit. The creature smells of wormwood, has a skull-like face, and drains life force. Typh destroys the spirit with magical attacks, saving the archer. Relations within the group remain strained. Shen secretly learns combat magic from the Cursed One. The young man combines the light and dark sides of his Gift. Rona suppresses her deep-seated fear of dark magic and supports Shen in his studies.

Intrigues of the Damned

Mitifa uses a magical water mirror to communicate with Alenari. The reader learns hidden details about the death of the powerful Leprosy. Rowan, the Lord of the Twister, is directly responsible. Rowan killed Leprosy and Laen. However, Laen managed to cast the devastating "Sun Circle" spell and burned half of the Forsaken’s face. Mitifa makes plans to seize control of the entire Empire. Later, she contacts Typh and confesses that she was the one who killed the children at the mage school. An enraged Typh promises revenge.

Alenari seizes Rainbow Valley, an ancient school of light mages. Smallpox seeks a direct descendant of the imperial line. The Emperor’s blood is needed to control the legendary Colossus of Corunna, an ancient protective mechanism. Rando Rei Vallion carries the necessary blood. Alenari hires assassins to capture Shen. Only the unique gift of the Healer can restore her disfigured face.

Rainbow Valley

Ness and his companions approach Rainbow Valley. In front of the school, the group kills a squad of marauders. Seeing thick smoke rising above the castle’s tall spires, Shen and Rona flee into the complex. Ness, Typh, and the Inhumans pursue them. Fierce fighting rages within the castle. Senior Teacher Galir, at the cost of her own life, destroys a squad of Sdis’s necromancers. The old woman collapses a heavy glass dome on the enemies and impales them with water spears.

Young apprentices Alga, Mita, and Dag attempt to escape. Dag incinerates the sorcerer with magic, but dies instantly from overexertion. Alga manages to kill the enemy and escape in the necromancer’s garb.

Ness’s group encounters Alenari. The archer fires a heavy arrow at Pox, but she deftly discards her silver mask. Ness sees the face of the dead Laen before him. This illusion confuses the archer. A magical storm erupts. Shen, in a fit of utter despair, accidentally activates an ancient stone portal — the Petals of the Path. Turquoise monoliths transport the group hundreds of kilometers away from the burning school.

Ancient ruins

Rando, Ga-nor, Luk, and the knight Kaln wander through the dense forests. The soldiers spend the night in an ancient elven cemetery, then descend into an abandoned Highborn city. In the ruins of a library, they accidentally awaken a subterranean demon sleeping beneath the floor. The five-legged monster smells of violets and glows in the dark. The demon attacks a squad of Butterfly House elven punishers who were hot on their heels. The monster devours the elves, blinded by the light, alive. Rando and his soldiers manage to escape.

Ness’s group traverses the wild mountains. Rhona develops a severe fever. The contact of the Light Gift with dark magic is wracking her mind. Typh refuses to heal the girl. Ness recalls the precise structure of the healing spell Laen often cast. Shen stabilizes the energy flows and saves Rhona from death.

Typh studies the stolen journals of Sculptor Cavalar. The entries confirm the theory of the dual nature of ancient sorcery. It turns out that the legendary Sculptor wielded both light and dark magic.

The Path to the Hanged Man’s Ladder

The two detachments cross paths by chance on a forest path in the mountains. The soldiers and mages join forces. Gbabak conducts a sparring match with Rando and Ga-nor, easily dispatching the experienced warriors. They are joined by the remnants of Rando’s uncle, the enormous Milord Voder. The group is reinforced by the winged Ye-arre scouts of the Fire Clan, who broke their alliance with the Damned due to a vile betrayal. The large column advances toward the Hanged Man’s Staircase, a mountain pass.

The road winds along narrow, icy cliffs. Snowstorms and piercing winds exhaust the men. Typhus and Shen light a magical flame to warm their freezing companions. Near an old imperial tower, the detachment engages in open combat with a Nabator garrison. A group of Ye-arre carries Ness and Kaln to high cliff ledges. Archers provide cover fire from a height of 60 meters.

The assault begins. Shen and Rona create protective domes. Thanks to Ness’s marksmanship, Gbabak’s immense physical strength, and Typh’s blue flame, the enemy garrison is completely wiped out. Ness takes care of her companions and sews a warm jacket for the freezing Yumi from captured clothing.

Retribution in the Mountains

Advancing along the snowy road, the scouts find the encampment of Nabator’s royal guard. Ness recognizes Rowan. The archer quietly climbs a rocky ledge. Ignoring the paralyzing fear, Ness fires a long arrow with a special white bone tip given to him by Shen. The bone artifact nullifies magic. The projectile easily penetrates Rowan’s magical shields and heavy carapace armor.

The Cursed Lord of the Twister falls dead into the snow. The guards, swords drawn, charge. Ness coldly kills two guards with her bow. Typhus descends from the mountainside and obliterates the remaining soldiers with her revived magic. Yumi kills another enemy with a poisoned thorn. The Cursed One gloats over the body of her fallen rival. She spits in the corpse’s face. The squad leaves the burning tents behind and continues the long, dangerous journey to the northern borders of the Empire.