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On the Boundaries of Darkness: Wilderness of Four, No. 3

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On the Boundaries of Darkness is book 3 in the four book series titled Wilderness of the Four.

This is a story set in Alanton Earth - a fantasy world location similar in some respects to Tolkien's Middle Earth or the Narnia of C.S. Lewis.

Book 1 and 2 details the affairs of bears, elves and dwarfs being gathered at the sea for an unspecified confrontation with the forces of evil.
Book 3 concerns the gathering of men to the sea rendezvous. I found it odd that bears and dwarfs are not even mentioned in this story. We do meet up with some very remarkable elves that are able to converse with all types of intelligent birds. Upon observing this one of the men questions his relish for food dishes featuring fowl.

Our hero in book 3 is Trianion, son, we are told in an aside, "of a king in the lands along the sea" and married to the Lady of Light Dorini. Trianion is also custodian of a magical amulet: The Harp of Holding. The story centers on Trianon's encounters with the Dark Queen Dorini, who happens to be his sister-in-law and has and a more than brotherly interest in him, and recovering his harp from the renegade Par Hance.

Finally on page 176 in a chapter titled "A meeting of Elders" the curtain is parted and we glimpse how it is in Alanton Earth or Windameir - the terms seem to be interchangeable. After persevering through book 1 and 2 we are finally given critical information necessary, in my estimation, for us to understand some of the author's vision for his fantasyland Alanton Earth. Honestly I would of greatly desired for this background text to have been part of book 1. I have surmised the following: The High King has created several tiers of reality referred to as the Upper and the Lower Meadows. The Upper Meadows are where the good and just are admitted too after proving themselves worthy in the Lower Meadows. Immortal dragons - The Syrin Brae - The Lord of Dragons, answerable only to the High King guard the Upper Gates - the entrance to The Upper Meadows.

Twin sisters Dorini and Lorini are major players in the affairs of Alanton Earth. It is not clear to me what their relationship is to the High King. What role the twins play is not defined but the assumption here is as follows: they have been charged to be co-ruler of the Lower Meadows as loving and respected regents for the High King but are essentially passive in the affairs of the inhabitants. They are referred to as "Guardians of the Lower realms" in the text. The location were the twins reside is called Cypher- an Eden like area featuring gardens, starry night and glorious sunsets. One of the twin's, Dorini, rebels and leaves Cypher. She believes their passive existence observing the lives of the subjects in the Lower Meadows is meaningless. As one of the Elders comments "she has been taken with the fever of a taste of power". In order to impose her will she corrupts some the occupants of the Lower Meadows and sets out to enforce her will through a military-like campaign. Over time a battle in fought were the Dark Queen's minions are thwarted but not defeated and she withdraws into the hidden darkness of the World between Time. Dorini, The Evil One, becomes more formidable when she recruits Garoyle Brag one of the dragon guardians of the Upper Gates to her cause. The High King is always off stage but apparently has set in motion a strategy to restore the balance as he originally intended. Hence The Elders: a groups of individuals working in concert with Lorini who oversee the machinations of the dark Queen and devise tactics to thwart her intentions. We are not informed how one becomes as Elder but my assumption is that the High King using his mystical powers makes the selections that then becomes readily apparent to the other elders.

The Wilderness of Four consist of the three planes of the Lower Meadows plus the forth, the dark creation of Dorini, her World between Time