TALON of the Raptor Clan

by J R Tomlin and C R Daems

The Talons of the Raptor Clan are trained mercenaries prized by rulers, nobles, and the wealthy as elite guards and bodyguards. Each Talon is what he is because he has survived the five Ordeals and ten years of demanding training.

Alisha, newly accepted Talon to the Raptor Clan, is unique. Not because she survived the five Ordeals, or is one of only three to graduate of over a hundred who applied, but one of only five woman Talons to be excepted over the past twenty years. Frail when she came to the Aerie, she could not have competed against any of the others in a fair fight, so she learned to outwit them.

Her first assignment, to guard a young heir to a kingdom, requires all her skill, wit, and a newly acquired magical Rune to keep the surviving heir alive after her parents are assassinated.