Book excerpt: MINALAN GETS MEDIEVAL! When you defeat the invading goblin army, get knighted on the field of battle, gifted with lands and gold, usually your happily-ever-after is . . . happy. But now that Minalan the Spellmonger has been ennobled and enfiefed, Sire Minalan has a task cut out for him that makes defeating goblins seem like child's play: moving his very pregnant bride and a few thousand refugees from Boval Vale into the remote, sparsely-peopled Domain of Sevendor. But when he arrives, he finds the land withered from neglect, filled with superstition and suspicion, a third of his domain has been conquered before he got there, and the castle he now owns hasn't been maintained in decades. As Minalan manages the challenges of being a noble, being a mage knight, being the lord of the manor, being a landlord, and fending off a belligerent (and well-armed) neighbor, he also has to learn how to be a husband, father, and a leader of a people. Then the fateful night his son is finally born, Minalan learns the nature of fear, as he, his family, and his very realm are forever changed when the spell he casts to save their lives transforms the land. Minalan, his apprentices Sir Tyndal and Sir Rondal, his dour but efficacious castellan Sir Cei, and his moody wife struggle through the winter and defend their domain in his attempt to prove what a Magelord can do for his people when he puts magic in their service. But in the distance, the threat of a renewed war with the goblins looms as they approach the Riverlands, the Gilmoran baronies that are the heart of the Duchies. The contentious High Magi convene to constitute the new Arcane Orders, while the fanatical Royal Censorate of Magic plots defeat them and the thousands of hedgemagi, witches and footwizards they terrorized now see Minalan as a hero. The sinister Family schemes to promote Duke Rard II to become King Rard I of the newly-united Kingdom of Castalshar - over a pile of bodies, if necessary. And suddenly, out of the sky fall dragons in the service of the Dead God to strike at the strength of the nascent Kingdom. How can Sire Minalan fight goblins, plots, poverty and politics, all from his remote and rustic vale while keeping the peasants in line and the Warbird of West Fleria at bay? With wit, courage, determination, and a healthy dose of magic. And when the new King tasks him to find a way to slay a dragon, an ordinary knight might shy away from the quest. For Sire Minalan, it's just another day on the job as a MAGELORD!