Wildling Magic Can Never Be Denied
Robin is half Winter Wildling. His mother comes from the Wild Wood to the north of the little town where he was raised. All his life his magic has been a battle: human control against savage, icy sorcery. He can keep it in check most of the time, but sometimes he must answer the call of midwinter that rests in his heart.
This volume brings together the first three stories from the Call of Midwinter series:
The Call of Winter
Robin Wild, apprentice sorcerer, has grown up among humans, but he only half belongs to their world. Rob was found as a baby two decades ago during the first snows of Winter. The kind-hearted, sensible residents of the town where he had been left saved him and then raised him as one of their own. That he is at least part Wildling, the mysterious creatures from the Wild Woods, has always been obvious; his winter magic sometimes running ahead of his human control. Now, though, the Wild Woods are calling him, and Robin must answer their summons.
When Spring Arrives
Robin, wildling and sorcerer, has married his love, Mariam. Both of them still apprentices, they are living with Robin's Ma, who is also the town midwife. It is early Spring, and Mariam is heavily pregnant with the couple's first child, known fondly as 'Cabbage'. Cabbage is restless, and having inherited wildling power from both Rob and back up Mariam's family tree, that means Mariam has to put up with starts of magic to go along with normal baby kicks. When those kicks turn into labour, the untamed magic inside Mariam threatens her and her child.
A Song of Farewell.
Life is looking good for the Robin, Mariam and their daughter Rowan, still know affectionately by all as Cabbage. However, a storm is coming. Robin can feel an unsettled strangeness to the power of what should have been just an ordinary snowstorm. It is making Cabbage restless as well. Such nerves could be put down to the natural tumult reacting with their Winter Wildling blood. Yet, Mariam's power of divination comes from quite another source and she too is sensing that something is wrong. What awaits in the coming maelstrom? Is it trouble that Mariam is discerning? Robin must face the challenges brought by the ice and snow and use all that he is to fight a terrible destiny that comes from the same power that made him?
