Lioness Rampant

Characters

Plot summary

The first chapter of this book finds Alanna, Faithful, and Coram on a quest for the 'Dominion Jewel', which grants immense psychokinetic power to any monarch who owns it. In the town of Berat, Alanna befriends martial-arts champion Liam Ironarm, called the 'Dragon of Shang', who joins the quest. The party thence traverse the realm of Sarain, evading a civil war between the native 'K'miri' tribes and the ruler, Warlord jin Wilima, and acquire new companions in Princess Thayet, the Warlord's only child, and her protector Buriram Tourokom. At the mountain range known as the 'Roof of the World', Alanna acquires the Jewel from its immortal guardian, Chitral. Upon return to her native land of Tortall, Alanna learns from a friend that their fellow-student Prince Jonathan has been made King but not been crowned, and that Alanna's twin brother Thom, to prove himself the most powerful sorcerer in the realm, has resurrected Duke Roger (killed by Alanna in an earlier book). Alanna therefore takes Jonathan's side and gives him the Dominion Jewel, and Jonathan names her as his King's Champion. Meanwhile, Thom is rapidly poisoned by his own magic, by its interaction with that of Roger. On the eve of the Coronation, Tortall's Great Mother Goddess warns Alanna that the Coronation will be a "crossroad in time", decisive of the realm's future. During the ceremony itself, insurgents storm the palace and Alanna and her friends must protect Jonathan. Here, Thom dies, drained of his life by Roger's magic, while Liam Ironarm and Alanna's cat Faithful are killed in the battle. Ultimately, Alanna kills Roger. After the insurgents are captured, Alanna returns to the Bazhir (a Bedouin-like ethnicity of Tortall's southern desert) to recover from her losses. Jonathan marries Thayet, and later appoints George a baron to guard Tortall's coast. Thereafter Alanna marries George.