Black Falcon Books

Sora is the wise, young High Chieftess of the Black Falcon Nation. For many winters her heart belonged to her husband, Flint, a warrior from a neighboring clan. Flint truly loved Sora, but jealousy drove him to beat men to death for merely casting a longing glance at his wife. Unable to live with his murderous rage, Flint moved back to his mother's clan, divorcing Sora and leaving her forever. Remarried and fully devoted to her duties as the High Chieftess, Sora tries to bury her memories of Flint. Then, on the eve of war with a neighboring nation, she is visited by Skinner, an old friend of Flint. Skinner tells her of Flint's death, but Sora feels that he carries part of Flint's soul inside him. When Skinner reveals secrets that only Flint would know, and rouses her passion in ways only Flint had, Sora must figure out if this is the clever witchcraft of enemies who want to seize her power and destroy her nation, or the spirit of her one and only true love.

According to the tradition of the Black Falcon People, each person has three souls: the eye soul, which stays with the body forever; the shadow soul, where all evil is leeched and shed at death; and the reflection soul, where the spirit lives on among the Blessed ancestors in the Land of the Dead, pure and clean. On rare occasions, a shadow soul can take over a stranger's body and commit hideous crimes. Sora, the High Chieftess of the Black Falcon Nation, has been plagued with blackouts and fits since her seventh winter. As her world goes black, two gleaming eyes burn inside her. Sora calls these occurrences the Midnight Fox; she remembers nothing of what happens when they take her. Now rival clans have accused her of seven murders, including the killing of her friend, the Loon People's war chief. As animosity toward Sora and the Black Falcon Nation abounds, she must find the necessary healing for her soul and mind, the courage to lead her people, and the strength to save her own life.

Sora, the High Chieftess of the Black Falcon Nation, has been banished by her own people until she can find healing for her broken spirit. Her seductive, murderous rampages have led to war with nearby clans and caused dissension in her own, as well. If another body was to turn up, Sora will certainly be blamed--even her own clan will demand her death. Now facing her thirty-third winter, she and her husband Flint are wandering the land searching frantically for the means to cure her shattered soul. In the wake of the Eagle Flute Village massacre, Red Raven witnessed a woman murder Chief Short Tail of the Loon people in an exotic ritual. As word spreads, more people want Sora found and killed, but there is still hope to heal her . . . she must find her reflection-soul. But Short Tail's shadow-soul managed to find a home in his last breath, and, hell-bent on revenge, he'll do anything to put an end to Sora's life.