Showing results by author "Mike Thexton" in All Categories

Tik has lived her 12 years in awe of her grandfather Gortan, who demands loyalty to kin, land, and the 'family beyond the wall'—the rebels who were branded and exiled into the wilderness 135 years before. The arrival of a branded man at the Westgate, the first to return to the kingdom since the rebellion, leads her to discover terrible secrets about her family and question her loyalties. Meanwhile Lebasi is forced to guide the branded man into Xessus to give a warning to the magistrate—Lebasi's father Xela—or the captain of the Westwall Guard.

For 135 years, the province of Xessus has been subject to a repressive regime, Riadsala’s Mercy. Xessans are not allowed to travel; they cannot learn history, geography, reading, writing, or how to fight. The best and bravest boys are taken for the king’s army, never to return. Laws are enforced by the magistrate, Xela.

Mike Thexton was held at the front of the plane for 12 hours, waiting to be shot. When the ground power unit failed and the plane became dark, the terrorists put him back with the others, before opening fire indiscriminately. At least 20 people died and over a hundred were injured, but Mike escaped by jumping off the wing of the plane and running away, sure that he would wake up and find himself still kneeling by the front door.