From publisher blurb: “My name is not important,” she purrs, when you ask. Everyone calls her the lich sorceress, or the market necromancer — or even “that dead woman with the cat” — but there’s old stories going around about her, too. Was she, perhaps, Ilessa, queen of the Northern Marches, who reigned here, a thousand years ago? Was she daughter to the merchant prince Kielbarro, himself the bastard spawn of the Mad Emperor? Or is she the last, lone survivor of that ancient nunnery, so deep inside the woods, that was a blackened, overgrown husk even before recorded time? There is no proof that any of those stories are true, but really, does it matter? If you need what she can offer, you’ll find her at the market in the woods, just like all the other important people hereabouts. They’ll tell you not to bring up necromancy around her. This is good advice. Don’t go see her as an emissary of another necromancer. Don’t brag about your own necromantic magics. Don’t say you’re friends with a death conjurer. She hates the other undead. She hates people who control the undead. If you’re good at fighting the undead — or wizards — she might have a job for you. They’ll tell you not to do business with her, because it’s too dangerous, or she’s cursed. This is hogwash. Everything is dangerous, everyone is cursed. If you need a new sword arm or a companion brought back from the Gates of Death, she’s the one, if you can afford it. A damn sight more polite than most other wizards, too, if you ask me. But if you find her out in the woods at night, away from the market, you best be careful. Just like other wizards, she doesn’t take well to strangers interfering with her business. She’s got a buried tower up near that old tomb on Ash Bluff, and no time for visitors. Just because you spoke with her in the market, doesn’t mean you’re friends.