A summary of Maria Semenova’s "Gem Mountains" Automatic translate

This book is a gritty epic fantasy, written in 2003. The plot concludes the arc of revenge and the restoration of global justice: the protagonist physically destroys the cursed mine, the site of his long-term slavery and the source of global evil. A full-length film based on the book series about this hero was made in 2006, and a television series was released a year later.

The novel is part of the renowned "Wolfhound" series. It follows "Wolfhound," "The Right to Duel," "The Source Stone," and "The Sign of the Path," ranking fifth in the main series’ chronology.

Sunset Peaks Island

Wolfhound, the kuns Vinitar, and the fugitive actor Shamargan find themselves on Sunset Peaks Island. Deadly ice giants have devastated the landscape, leaving only bare rock and squelching clay. The trio is pursued by the feral descendants of slaves, who have lost their human form and are now cannibals. Kuns Vinitar finds a carving on a rock left by his grandmother, Angran. Fighting with wooden swords and dodging screeching stones from slings, the warriors retreat to the glacier. The winged bat Mysh flies with its master, warning of danger. The priest Khonomer, along with the former merchant Rignomer, is traveling to the Alaydor plateau. He carries rich tents and books, hoping to impress the wild mountain dwellers. Near the Winter Gate, their caravan encounters an abnormally strong storm wind and snowfall. The elements flood the camp, icy water floods the priest’s camp bed, destroys food supplies and ruins expensive clothes.

Escape through Ponor

While hunting a brown wild bull with a crossbow, Khonomer loses his way. In the heat of the chase, he discards his heavy fur cloak. His bare feet bleed, trudging through icy scree. The priest cuts his pants into bandages, uses mountain bull dung to retain the last of his warmth, and narrowly escapes feathered scavengers and the collapse of a huge boulder. On the island, the fugitives hide in an ice cave illuminated by a bluish light. A well-aimed slingshot injures Vinithar’s back. The glacier begins to collapse, shedding giant, transparent icicles. The wolfhound and his companions stumble into the abyss of Ponor. They survive, falling into the warm, fresh waters of an underground lake in the land of Velimor. A local teenager, Atarokh, rescues swimmers in a boat and brings them to the Segvan settlement of Other Shore. Angran, the old woman, appears on a "killer whale" abandoned near Sunset Peaks Island. She orders the young warriors to sail to Sakkarem, obeying the will of her divine Friend. Far out in the steppe, an old nomad witnesses a peaceful meeting between two enormous dogs: the local leader, Thvarghel, and the visiting dog, Mordash.

Court in Velimor

Atarokh goes to check traps for the tarmai, a predatory river fish. Imrill’s bodyguard kills a teenager and his faithful dog, Zabava, taking the puppy, Zvonko, for the amusement of the noblewoman Alasha. The wolfhound extracts the truth from the puppy’s memory. Vinitar accuses Imrill to the kuns Vingorrich, his uncle. The bodyguard lies about the nail scratches on the Narlak boat. A duel is declared. In place of the wounded kuns, a huge gray dog with a crystal bead on its collar emerges onto the sandy shore. It easily crushes the defenses of the club-wielding Imrill and rips out his throat, restoring justice. An exhausted Khonomer returns to Tin-Vilena, rescued by the faithful Rignomer. The priest discovers that the ancient wooden images of the Twins have rotted. The new images, created by the enlightened carver Tervelg, who was cured of his blindness, depict the brothers together with their Mother, breaking with centuries-old traditions. Khonomer tearfully accepts this sign and goes into the mountains, praying before the Gap Wall.

Meetings in Sakkarem

Rescued by the blacksmith Sharshava, the ransomed Segvan woman Ermintar flees with the Venns along the Shatun River. The boat sails under a slanted leather sail. They are pursued by mercenary dog-headed warriors with a pack of ferocious attack dogs. In the Sakkarem city of Chirakha, Volkodav, Vinitar, and Shamargan investigate the theft of a sapphire necklace. The gray-bearded governor demands solid evidence. Volkodav rips out the door bolt with his bare hands. The jewel is found in the bedroom of the miller Shekhmal Stumekh’s daughter, around the neck of her lover, Bhubakash. Shamargan throws the hairpin into the marital bed. The enraged miller beats his daughter with a shepherd’s crook. This proves the innocence of the groom Vinoyr, mistakenly sold to the penal mines. Volkodav visits an inn and unexpectedly encounters his old friend, Eurykh. Arrant has become the court physician, having cured the Shad’s daughter, Agitial, of her night terrors and stuttering: he replaced the terrifying demon in her memory with a gentle cat. Eurykh and Volkodav catch up with the slave trader Xoo Tarkim on a dusty highway and ransom the Sho-Sitayn, Vinoyr.

Subsoil collapse

Wolfhound descends alone into the Gem Mountains mines. Overseer Gwalior, tormented by prophetic dreams of his dead friend, begins to unlock chains and free the chained slaves. Wolfhound confidently reaches the locked bronze gates on the twenty-ninth lower level. He discards the heavy chisel and hammer. Senior Overseer Tseragath runs toward him with an armed guard. The blazing power of the Sunfire blade stops time for his enemies and instantly turns the sword’s steel to rusty dust, allowing the Venn to crush the barrier with a single thrust of his palm. Water blades erupt from the depths, generated by the unimaginable heat of the Dark Star, toppling mountains. Gwalior runs across the scorching floor of the former dueling ground; his boots burn to ashes, but he miraculously escapes with his woolen socks. Eurykh watches the collapse of the snowy peaks from a distant pass. Afarga, the Monomatan, uses her ancestral magic, erecting an invisible shield and protecting those fleeing along the road from the boiling wave. The Southern Tooth collapses, dragging the priceless Treasury into the abyss.

The end of the journey

On the banks of the El River, the Venn are overtaken by a chase. A violent snowstorm begins. Sharshava, Olenushka, and Zayushka, with two dogs, fight off the ferocious hounds. The wounded blacksmith breaks the pack leader’s neck with his bare hands. Shaggy Zastoya crushes his enemies with a death grip. Olenushka strikes with an axe and a knife. Ermintar shoots accurately with a crossbow. A huge gray-silver wolfhound emerges through the snow to their aid. He destroys the attackers and then sheds his skin, revealing himself to be a wounded man. The wolfhound, killed in the collapse of the cursed mine, crosses an invisible line. In a flowering meadow, he is met by the Ancestor Dog. The gigantic animal bows first to the Venn and throws his shimmering golden fur coat over his descendant’s shoulders. The surviving friends meet at a turquoise mountain lake, seeing two figures on a rock. The gray-haired Kan-Kendarat rides a donkey across the steppe and meets the immortal Podruga. The aging Khonomer finds refuge in the wintry Viennese village of Sinitz, peacefully writing local legends on birch bark.