Dark-haired lamb, sullen-lipped churl,
palla-wearing girl, sixteen years hurtle
Heavily brow'd, eyes seeking proud...

...
(Note: Description is out of daaaate!)

Formerly the slave and apprentice of the local wizard of Vipiacus, sixteen-year-old Rivia thought her life was improving when her master gave her her wizard's Name and set her free.  Well, she must not have been thinking too clearly!  Since then, Rivia has followed the Mad Dwarf Arctos to Matisco and met demons, ghosts, and nymphs.  Well, one of each, but it was enough to make her nervous.  The gargoyoles and winter wolves were also a bit much, especially since the latter wanted to eat her.  Anyway, they managed to accomplish their "quest" and returned, whereupon she discovered her hometown was in chaos, and everyone of good sense was fleeing.  Also, it turned out that Rivia's foster-brother, Julius Ulpius, had about as much sense as a pebble (and had decided to stay).  Well, Rivia didn't even consider rushing in and saving him.  Rivia happens to know perfectly well that enchantments work too well on her, and she'd just end up falling victim to whatever was happening in Vipiacus.  Worried about her teacher (and perhaps looking for a safer place to be), she is now heading off to find Marcus, the aforementioned wizard, who, besides being bitter and aloof, happens to have protected her for most of her life.  Going along with her is Isaniko, an unusually empathetic priest of Death; Penelope, an elf slave who is "twice" her age and far wiser; Telemachus, a little elf boy who never talks; and a dwarf named Burris, who, like most dwarves, is probably secretly crazy.

If it's any comfort, Rivia didn't intend for it to work out this way.


...

"And see not ye that braid braid road,
That lies across that lily leven?
That is the path of wickedness,
Tho some call it the road to heaven."

Ballad of Thomas Rymer