He called himself by the name of the father he had never known, Vazkor, king of a forgotten land. In his veins were mingled the blood of that regal warrior and that of his witch mother, the silver-masked, snowy-haired survivor of the hated Old Race. He had sworn that she would die at his hands.
Across that age-haunted planet his quest went on. As he searched, so grew his own powers, his fearful heritage. Across wide seas, in conquered cities, and among haunted mountains, the hunt took him. As he drew closer to his objective, the clearer became the way she must be slain, the more certain his ability to rid the world once and for all of his creator – the white witch from the volcano.
Here is the windup of Tanith Lee's Birthgrave, the shattering conclusion of a panoramic vision of a faraway world.
Tanith Lee (1947-2015) was a British writer of science fiction, horror and fantasy. She was the author of over 90 novels and 300 short stories, a children's picture book (Animal Castle), and many poems. She also wrote two episodes of BBC science fiction series Blake's 7. She was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award best novel award (also known as the August Derleth Award), for her book Death's Master (1980). She also wrote under the pseudonym Esther Garber.
