In those spirit-haunted Flatlands, Iya-Ko-Naya discovers her long-lost, legacy-promised partner-an Outsider named Shatwa Hei, who is a fellow apprentice to Iya's own warrior-mentor, Illikahn Eagletree, a respected elder and beloved Guardian of the Mountain of the Ancestors. Iya's return to the Mountain of the Ancestors not only spurs the minions of Darkness to aggressively attack the up-Mountain heights, but also to send Dark Ones down-Mountain, across the spirit-haunted Flatlands-the site of an ancient, ancestral battle, where ghost-like skirmishes are incessantly fought and re-fought by the Flatland Guardians in both real-time and in Shadow. As such, she is named Keeper of the Ways of her People. In a daring rescue from her dark plight, her four Rider-Sisters return Iya to the Mountain of the Ancestors where she reluctantly accedes to her ancient birthright-and the responsibility that comes from the title-as Daughter of the Mountain.

Iya is saved by her four, Medicine-riding Sisters-one of whom remains behind, legacy-bound, as Healer to the desert-riding clan. They impulsively ally themselves with the landless Free-Ranger Clan, where Iya-Ko-Naya, now a capable Sister of Medicine, suffers a horrid fate from a Brother of Dark-Medicine whom she deeply loves. From the seeds of those ancient, now-remembered abilities, the two tiny, light-filled Sisters will become formidable Shadow-fighters worthy of their up-Mountain legacies.Īs the two gifted Sisters of Light grow into young adulthood, they are compelled by their dreams to gain increasingly stronger personal skills.

In the big sister idolizing company of her little Sister-cousin Sweet-Star who is filled with lifetimes of memories of their eternal friendship, Iya-Ko-Naya sets out on a dreamtime-inspired journey to the haunted clefts along the northern plateau of the Mountain of the Ancestors.īeset by ancient demon-dogs, but saved from certain death by a pair of ancient warriors-Naka of the Lodge and Illikahn, an up-Mountain Walker-Iya and Te'o-Hai discover and reawaken the first of many of their legacy-given, Otherworld skills.

In a sacred land where stories and demons come to life with the telling of every ancient tale, and where legendary heroes and heroines struggle to reawaken the lost memories of their from-before-time legacies, a young Seeker of Light must evade not only the cultural taboos that forbid physical contact with her personal guardian, but she must discover a way to defeat the Darkness that has forever kept herself and her warrior-guardian apart.

Sisters of Light by Stan Sudan