The Weaver’s Light: Mara Fields


Believing that falcon-faced sorcerers that have destroyed a city and turned it into rubble are controlling the world, Callan Vellus after losing his family takes to the bottle for comfort. A talented weaver whose hands can create masterpieces soon injured his hands and hopes to find his way back to his craft. Leaving his home and boarding a ship he winds up alone and desolate hoping to purchase a new loom and traveling to the city which he will find in ruins to learn that he is not alone in his believe that lightning caused the fires from an odd and strange storm that came out of nowhere.  Haunted by a vision caused by too much liquor, Callan seems to think that the visions and the falcon-faces images are real.

Pashi is hopeless and has nowhere to go and stealing keeps her in food and alive as she learns that this might be the only way for her to manage and survive. Orphaned but remembering what her mother taught her about magic in a land that has as the summary states not seen sorcery for 800 years. Is it this talent that saved her from the sorcery and mages that burned down her home? Meeting Galen who takes her in but needs her to care for his home, she has a safety net until he leaves and does not return within the three days since he left. Pashi is smart yet mute as the fire and what she witnessed left her without her speech and even Galen’s medicine did not return her voice. Taking the jewelry she found while on the beach before coming in contact with Galen, she sells it in order to have money for food and perhaps a place to stay. While Callan goes into the burned up town and meets with a woman who owns the only weaving store with a huge loom that he hopes to be allowed to use. Considering his plight she agrees to allow him to create something that is noteworthy and go from there if he does.

Things change when Pashi comes into the picture and she and Callan form a bond but finding Gale and hoping that he will reveal that he saw the same fires and the falconimages stating that they really do exist and caused the burning of the city. But, first Pashi and Callan have to escape their quarters as the fires keep following them and the jewelry that she stole and a specific necklace is what they are after. The fabled jewels of the ancient Yvis sorcerers are in question and they want to rule and take over the entire realm. They want to unleash their powers. How can this invasion be stopped and Callan and Pashi have the jewels and need to protect them at all costs. But, in question is where are the Yvis sorcerers that have been imprisoned and will they help them if they are found to destroy the falcomimages?

This story is even more than just Pashi finding a way to free the sorcerers and return the jewels. It’s a story about hope, survival, loyalty and the bond between two people of different time periods you might say as Callan and Pashi find a way to get through the fog and to where she needs to find a way to release the jewels and give them back. But, obstacles are always there and when she finally arrives Callan is gone and she is taken in by those that she thinks might help her but she is still not sure if she can trust them.

Callan Vellus came from Boston; he’s a master weaver and went to B’rodug to see the destruction created by the mages and the flamesmages. Pashi remembered the warrior-sorcerers when no one else in the city did. Fear engulfs Callan when blue flames engulf the weaver and Pashi is plagued with fear as she is huddled and hides in the shadows and the world. The Falconmen sorcerers were still in the city and Callan was hurt and in need of medical help. Within pages 141 and after Callan shares what happens to his wife and child and how his family and home was burned and destroyed. Pashi becomes his only hope at having anyone that cares about him in his life. These creatures killed his family and they destroyed an 800-year-old Yvis broach and this 11-year-old child has more courage and wisdom than all of the adults you will meet within this novel. As her will to live, rid the world of the blue flames and release the sorcerers kept her going until she thought she might lose the battle and then knew she could never give up

Della Mun is where they come from it’s at stake and the damage was not caused by the storms as Callan tries to relate but there are those that deny what he says and what she saw as Hoit listened carefully but in the end would he believe what he was told?

Pashi finds herself on Yarwin’s teacher’s doorstep and the teacher relates that he has collected many tales of the falconmen of Goern- an umber of who possess magic and Pashi sneaks behind him, peeking over his shoulder and to get a better look at the pages. He eyes flew over the test, which was old-fashioned and formal, but the story was clear enough for her to understand. If you want to learn what she learned read pages 220-221 and learn the hidden secrets. When the truth about Pashi comes out she is called Glasring and is the only hope to save everyone as Chenra the queen realizes when Pashi finds a way to release her and her minions from the mist. But, is she grateful and why does she treat Callan as if he does not count? Things take on a different turn and Pashi reunites with the one person she thought was gone: Her mother and from then on we learn more about why the Queen calls her Glasring and why her people told her that she came through the mists carrying the Vloernas and faced the Goern who are still in Yvis. Reminding her that she survived the attack and they were freed from that timeless place that she and the others seemed hung and suspended. At times you wonder why the Queen did not feel closer and more grateful to both Callan and Pashi and her rebuffs of Callan are uncalled for and you wonder whether she is about to get what she deserves.

Callan has another vision and this time he realizes that he too might have special powers or even be a mage. What he sees he insists on telling the Queen and Pashi and her mother but the end result you won’t believe along with the queen’s reaction.

He relates the vision and explains that Della Mun is at stake and yet the queen thinks that she does not know what the vision is of the present or what is to come. But, the end result is quite startling and remarkable as the falconmages take the lead and the Queen might not make it unless Kor wishes it go and Pashi and Callan can find a way to save the day. If the survive the coming battle will the Queen survive to sort out what is next? Did the Goern land already? Will they face one final battle? How will the Chenra of Throne face it? When she speaks with Callan and he glances around the room she told them about the difference in time between the Yvis and the rest of the world, and there may be another threat to face but will the blue flames destroy them or will Pashi find a way to save them once more? Callan sees the light of the weaver and realizes what he has to do as Pashi and her mother see five lights and hopefully realize that she might be alive. The ending will shock readers and the power he was sent we hope will sustain him in the last moments when he fights the Goern image. A story of adversity, hope, fear, survival, power, struggle and domination of a world that the falconmen wanted to control? Who wins? Who loses as author Mara Fields weaves using her own writing loom a story so powerful, so intricate so heartwarming that readers will literally fall in love with Pashi and Callan and hope that they unite once more to find out what happens next and is Kor will help them to survive. When the weaving billowed and expanded spreading outward in rainbow of colors will you finally see what he saw the dazzling Weaver’s Light of hope and survival.

Fran Lewis: Just reviews/MJ magazine