Witch of the Four Winds
 First edition | |
| Author | John Jakes |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Frank Frazetta |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Brak series |
| Genre | Fantasy short stories |
| Published | 1969 (Paperback Library) |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 160 pp |
| OCLC | 2304648 |
| Preceded by | Brak the Barbarian |
| Followed by | The Mark of the Demons |
Witch of the Four Winds is a fantasy novel by John Jakes featuring his sword and sorcery hero Brak the Barbarian.
Publication history
The story was first published in the magazine Fantastic Stories of Imagination as a two-part serial in the issues for November and December 1963. It was first published in book form in paperback by Paperback Library in April 1969, with the title changed to Brak the Barbarian Versus the Sorceress. It was reprinted by Pocket Books in November 1977, and by Tower Books (under the shortened title Brak vs. The Sorceress) in 1981. British editions were issued under the title The Sorceress by Tandem in July 1970 (reprinted in 1976) and Star/W. H. Allen in February 1988. It was later, with the original title restored, gathered together with When the Idols Walked and two stories from The Fortunes of Brak into the omnibus collection Witch of the Four Winds / When the Idols Walked, published as an ebook by Open Road Integrated Media in July 2012. The novel has been translated into German[1]
Plot
Brak, a blond, braided and broadsword-wielding barbarian from the frozen north, continues his quest to reach the glorious southern realm of Khurdisan the Golden. In desolate country, he encounters malevolent magic. Boulders fall in a soundless rain, and a mysterious old stranger appears to know all about him. An invisible horror rends his pony to shreds. It seems he has some sorcerous foe against whom no mundane weapon can avail.
After saving a shepherdess from the monstrous Manworm, Brak reaches the city of old Lord Strann, who rules the region as best he can but is threatened by the alchemist Nordica and her crony, the wizard Tamar Zed. Much of Strann's army has been lured to Nordica's side in the expectation of riches; Nordica's father possessed the knowledge of how to transmute base metal to gold, a secret for which she is thought to have murdered him.
Brak, attempting to aid Strann, is caught by Nordica, joining three other captives--the girl he had previously rescued, an aged sailor, and a duplicitous smith. All four are slated to be sacrificed in a rite to make the gold. They attempt escape, are betrayed, and face more menace from the Manworm and Nordica's bestial familiar Scarletjaw. Ultimately Brak is victorious.
Refusing the amorous advances of the grateful shepherd girl, whose attentions he diverts towards Strann's son and heir, Brak continues his journey towards Khurdisan.
Notes
- ↑ Witch of the Four Winds title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database