AustLit

'Captain Katarina Salisbury of the airship the Iron Lady, and propaganda tool for the Illisian government, has been given a very simple assignment; to go and rescue villagers threatened with avalanches in the far southern Drezusk Mountains.

'With unwelcome nobles on her vessel, diminishing part of her fame and good press from the venture, she is determined to do her duty and be done with them as quickly as possible.

'Except the fall of the first avalanche reveals something beneath the tumbling snow and rock; a hidden monastery of a dead religion, never seen before this far south on the Illisian continent.

'It’s stone doors are opened to reveal a secret, one that had been lost to time. Kat is drawn to the monastery, finding within it a mystery that will change her life forever. But as the weather worsens, and an unforeseen danger moves in the shadows, she is forced to make choices; for herself and the future of the Iron Lady.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Professor Nicholas Holloran was not expecting the dark figure that waited for him in his office. And why should he? The archaeologist couldn’t have foreseen having the beautiful Captain Salisbury asking him to translate a recently uncovered text for her.

'A simple enough request yet something about the text written by a long dead Mostadic monk is wrong. Very wrong.

'Nick is blackmailed into accompanying the captain on her ship on a quest for an archaeological site and is drawn into the superstitions of the captain and the strange lord who travels with them.

'The pair think they have found the path to Shaifalway: the Well of Youth.

'The old myth is laughable as a reality, but Nick is alarmed at the perseverance and belief of the captain and lord as Nick helps them find the site they seek.

'Yet down in the darkness of a forgotten cave, Nick too may find belief in its depths.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Grateful to be leaving the deathbed of his estranged father behind, Andy Morzov wants nothing more than to return to Amphion University to submit his thesis to his mentor Professor Nick Holloran. Instead, he discovers the professor missing – possibly dead – while on a secret mission for the Illisian government.

'If Andy hopes to find Nick, he must join the renowned Captain Salisbury in retracing Nick’s steps on a quest to the Frozen Isles for the fabled site of Shaifalway, the Well of Youth. With Salisbury advising Andy not to go, he starts to question the government’s motives. Andy soon discovers that there’s something wrong in the archaeological papers the professor left behind. And for good reason, for the translation speaks of a darkness, an evil within the hearts of man, and the Well is only a small part of what is to come.

'As he boards the ice-breaking behemoth, the Juggernaut, on her quest north, Andy realises that his life is now in danger. He must tread carefully, lest his motives to save Nick – if he is still alive – come into question. In the midst of his growing doubts, arises the question as to the Well’s authenticity. After all, what lengths would the leaders of Illisia go for immortality?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.