Maze of Moonlight
Encyclopedia
Maze of Moonlight is a novel written by Gael Baudino
in 1993. It is the second in the Strands of Starlight
tetralogy
. The other novels are Strands of Starlight
, Shroud of Shadow
, and Strands of Sunlight
.
during the time of the Western Schism
. Christopher has been away on the Crusade of Nicopolis of 1396 CE
.
's victory at Battle of Nicopolis
, his health and sanity severely damaged from the years of aimless wandering. He is soured on religion and nobility, having seen hypocrisy of all kinds while away. Etienne of Languedoc
, a representative of Roman Pope Boniface IX, arrives to have an audience with him, but Christopher refuses to see him. Staying at the local inn, Etienne takes out his frustration on Vanessa, granddaughter of the elf Varden, by brutally beating her nearly to death when she rejects his advances. Christopher kills him and takes Vanessa in.
Just as he is about to give up hope of Vanessa recovering from her wounds, Mirya and Terrill arrive, posing as healers from far away, and they heal her completely. Christopher befriends Vanessa and helps her to make sense of the images in her head that make her fear for her sanity, those images being the patterns of reality she can see because of her part-elven blood. She departs for Saint Blaise, but, arriving at the gates of Saint Blaise, she decides at the last minute to seek out whatever family of hers may still remain in Saint Brigid.
Christopher's cousin, Yvonette a'Verne, baron of Hypprux, has designs on the wealth of the city of Ypris, so he arranges for several bands of mercenaries to sack the town and split the proceeds with him, not foreseeing that when the bands are done with Ypris, they will begin looting the rest of Adria. Using blackmail
, Christopher persuades Yvonette to join an alliance of other noblemen of the area to fight off the mercenaries when they do decide to strike off on their own.
After the fall of Ypris, one band of mercenaries, the Fellowship of Acquisition, sacks the Free Town of Saint Blaise and takes over Shrinerock, a nearby castle. Realizing the potential of a castle to hold people in as well as out, Christopher convinces Natil to use her otherworldly powers to fuse the castle's walls, doors, windows, and gates into solid stone, thus giving Terrill time to shepherd the survivors of Saint Blaise's and Shrinerock's fall through Malvern Forest to safety in Aurverelle.
Christopher goes to Saint Brigid to rescue Vanessa. He is trapped there with Vanessa, Mirya, and Natil when the Fellowship besiege the town. Using Mirya's elven powers and Christopher's command of unorthodox fighting tactics, they hold the mercenaries at bay. With discord setting in among the ranks of the Fellowship, Berard of Onella, the leader of the Fellowship, is assassinated by one of his own. At the same time, the remaining members of the alliance ambush the Fellowship and slaughter them.
Gael Baudino
Gael Baudino is a contemporary American fantasy author who also writes under the pseudonyms of Gael Kathryns, Gael A. Kathryns, and G.A. Kathryns. She attended college at the University of Southern California...
in 1993. It is the second in the Strands of Starlight
The Strands Series
The Strands Series is a series of books and short stories written by Gael Baudino between 1981 and 1994 and published between 1989 and 1997. The majority of the plot occurs in a fictional land named Adria, which is based on Medieval Western Europe, with parts of later books occurring in 1990s...
tetralogy
Tetralogy
A tetralogy is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works....
. The other novels are Strands of Starlight
Strands of Starlight
Strands of Starlight is a novel written by Gael Baudino in 1989. It is the first in the Strands of Starlight tetralogy. The other novels are Maze of Moonlight, Shroud of Shadow, and Strands of Sunlight.-Plot introduction:...
, Shroud of Shadow
Shroud of Shadow
Shroud of Shadow is a novel written by Gael Baudino in 1994. It is the third in the Strands of Starlight tetralogy. The other novels are Strands of Starlight, Maze of Moonlight, and Strands of Sunlight.-Plot introduction:...
, and Strands of Sunlight
Strands of Sunlight
Strands of Sunlight is a novel written by Gael Baudino in 1994. It is the fourth in the Strands of Starlight tetralogy. The other novels are Strands of Starlight, Maze of Moonlight, and Shroud of Shadow...
.
Plot introduction
The protagonist of Maze of Moonlight is Christopher delAurvre, Baron of Aurverelle and grandson of Roger delAurvre. The story picks up two generations after the end of Strands of StarlightStrands of Starlight
Strands of Starlight is a novel written by Gael Baudino in 1989. It is the first in the Strands of Starlight tetralogy. The other novels are Maze of Moonlight, Shroud of Shadow, and Strands of Sunlight.-Plot introduction:...
during the time of the Western Schism
Western Schism
The Western Schism or Papal Schism was a split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. Two men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance . The simultaneous claims to the papal chair...
. Christopher has been away on the Crusade of Nicopolis of 1396 CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
.
Plot summary
Christopher returns to Aurverelle in 1400, more than three years after the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
's victory at Battle of Nicopolis
Battle of Nicopolis
The Battle of Nicopolis took place on 25 September 1396 and resulted in the rout of an allied army of Hungarian, Wallachian, French, Burgundian, German and assorted troops at the hands of an Ottoman force, raising of the siege of the Danubian fortress of Nicopolis and leading to the end of the...
, his health and sanity severely damaged from the years of aimless wandering. He is soured on religion and nobility, having seen hypocrisy of all kinds while away. Etienne of Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
, a representative of Roman Pope Boniface IX, arrives to have an audience with him, but Christopher refuses to see him. Staying at the local inn, Etienne takes out his frustration on Vanessa, granddaughter of the elf Varden, by brutally beating her nearly to death when she rejects his advances. Christopher kills him and takes Vanessa in.
Just as he is about to give up hope of Vanessa recovering from her wounds, Mirya and Terrill arrive, posing as healers from far away, and they heal her completely. Christopher befriends Vanessa and helps her to make sense of the images in her head that make her fear for her sanity, those images being the patterns of reality she can see because of her part-elven blood. She departs for Saint Blaise, but, arriving at the gates of Saint Blaise, she decides at the last minute to seek out whatever family of hers may still remain in Saint Brigid.
Christopher's cousin, Yvonette a'Verne, baron of Hypprux, has designs on the wealth of the city of Ypris, so he arranges for several bands of mercenaries to sack the town and split the proceeds with him, not foreseeing that when the bands are done with Ypris, they will begin looting the rest of Adria. Using blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
, Christopher persuades Yvonette to join an alliance of other noblemen of the area to fight off the mercenaries when they do decide to strike off on their own.
After the fall of Ypris, one band of mercenaries, the Fellowship of Acquisition, sacks the Free Town of Saint Blaise and takes over Shrinerock, a nearby castle. Realizing the potential of a castle to hold people in as well as out, Christopher convinces Natil to use her otherworldly powers to fuse the castle's walls, doors, windows, and gates into solid stone, thus giving Terrill time to shepherd the survivors of Saint Blaise's and Shrinerock's fall through Malvern Forest to safety in Aurverelle.
Christopher goes to Saint Brigid to rescue Vanessa. He is trapped there with Vanessa, Mirya, and Natil when the Fellowship besiege the town. Using Mirya's elven powers and Christopher's command of unorthodox fighting tactics, they hold the mercenaries at bay. With discord setting in among the ranks of the Fellowship, Berard of Onella, the leader of the Fellowship, is assassinated by one of his own. At the same time, the remaining members of the alliance ambush the Fellowship and slaughter them.
Elves
- Natil - skilled at playing the wire-strung harp.
- Mirya - a great healer and potent warrior.
- Terrill - Mirya's lover. Fades away at the end of the book.
- Vanessa - Varden's granddaughter and Lake's daughter. Begins as mostly human and turns herself mostly Elven using her vision of the patterns.
- Varden - fades from existence after a final rejection by his son, Lake.
Humans
- Christopher delAurvre - Baron Roger's grandson. Haunted by the about-face Roger performed after his alteration by Mirya.
- Pytor - an escaped serf from Medno, SloveniaSloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. Is Christopher's seneschalSeneschalA seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...
. - Charity - the young girl from Strands of Starlight, aged to about 60 years. Not quite human and not quite Elven. Gives her life to save other villagers.
- Etienne of Languedoc
- Yvonette a'Verne
Historical figures mentioned in Maze of Moonlight
- John HawkwoodJohn HawkwoodSir John Hawkwood was an English mercenary or condottiero who was active in 14th century Italy. The French chronicler Jean Froissart knew him as Jean Haccoude and Italians as Giovanni Acuto...
and the White CompanyWhite CompanyThe White Company was a 14th Century Italian mercenary Company of Adventure , led from its arrival in Italy in 1361 to 1365 by the German Albert Sterz and later by the Englishman John Hawkwood... - Bernabò ViscontiBernabo ViscontiBernabò Visconti was an Italian soldier and statesman, who was Lord of Milan.-Life:He was born in Milan, the son of Stefano Visconti and Valentina Doria. From 1346 to 1349 he lived in exile, until he was called back by his uncle Giovanni Visconti...
Editions
- ISBN 0451452305 (US mass market paperback, 1993, Penguin Books, cover art by Thomas CantyThomas CantyThomas Canty is an illustrator and book designer in the field of fantasy literature.-Career:Canty is credited with pioneering a "New Romantic" style of painting, influenced by such 19th century artists as Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt, and the Pre-Raphaelites...
) - ISBN 1857232682 (UK mass market paperback, 1993, Orbit)
- OCLCOCLCOCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
61346397 (Audio book, 2005, Volunteer Services for the Visually Handicapped)