The Gates of Gormyre

THE GATES OF GORMYREMason and Bianca Winslow appear to be a typical happily married couple, complete with a nine year old son, Caleb…until the evening of a local Halloween Festival. During the festival, Mason and Bianca begin having flashbacks—of lives in a parallel dimension, before Caleb was born. Mason is the son of a pirate captain, and Bianca is a gypsy. In this dimension pirates and gypsies are mortal enemies; thus their love is a forbidden one.A magic show is the grand finale of the Halloween Festival, and Caleb is chosen from the audience to vanish into thin air, which he does, magically transported to his parents' native realm. This is a summons for Mason and Bianca to return as well, to settle an old score. Memory by memory they make their way back, determined to find Caleb and bring him home.What they find, when they first arrive, is a waiting crew of pirates, captained by Mason's father, Algeron, fuming and demanding they “Surrender The Black Spire”. This is Caleb's ransom, yet to them it is a mystery, a clever and deadly riddle they must somehow solve to save their son.Seized at once and held captive on the pirates' ship, Mason and Bianca are forced into their true personas, which in turn unlocks the past in both their minds. “Surrender The Black Spire” as the pirate captain, Algeron first demanded? Not a chance now, not in either of their minds. Further, although it is mysterious, it is not a riddle at all, just a plainly stated demand.The Black Spire is a magnificent castle once ruled by King Gormyre, but the age of kings is long past in that realm, and the castle lay deserted and forgotten for a very long time. The pirates found the castle and occupied it for hundreds of years; The Black Spire is what they call it. As young lovers, Mason and Bianca heisted the castle through gypsy magic and then hid it through similar means. This is the old score the pirates mean to settle – they want their castle and all its stores of treasure back.Escaping the pirates and recovering Caleb is a dangerous adventure, full of intrigue and suspense. Drawn to rejoin the gypsies in that process, Mason and Bianca lay all secrets bare, and then lead off in a quest to recoup The Black Spire themselves—for the entire gypsy clan.Both the pirates and the gypsies are evenly matched in what becomes a race across that realm to lay claim on The Black Spire, and it's anyone's guess who will triumph in the final showdown.