Mercerian Tales: Honour Thy Ancestors

The chronicle of Urgon"s rise to power was actually something I conceived of some time ago, back when I was writing Sword of the Crown. In that story, the Orcs fought against the main characters, yet I knew that would change in later stories. Since then, I"ve built upon Urgon"s close friendship with Kraloch as the series progressed, but I still didn"t have a concrete idea for his background, other than a few loose concepts. All that finally fell into place when I came up with the character of Zhura. The idea of ghost-walkers was mentioned back in Defender of the Crown, but now, with time to think over the details, I was ready to introduce their presence. However, I didn"t want to side-track War of the Crown by getting into the details, thus Zhura became an essential part of Urgon"s story. At its heart, Honour is about someone bucking the system and righting injustices while at the same time still caring about his people. Urgon, Kraloch, and Zhura resume their story in War of the Crown and will continue to be important as the series moves forward. This tale could not have been written had it not been for my wife, Carol, who encouraged me, suggesting several important points during the outlining phase. She is, as usual, my greatest inspiration, and I wouldn"t be here without her assistance. I should also like to thank Amanda Bennett, Christie Bennett, and Stephanie Sandrock for their continued support and encouragement. Alongside them, I must thank Brad Aitken and Steve Brown for their inspiration in getting this series to print, not to mention Jeffrey Parker, who, sadly, passed away this last winter. His legacy, in the form of Arnim Caster, shall live on. A number of additional people who form my BETA team also deserve thanks for their wonderful feedback and suggestions, and so my gratitude goes out to: Rachel Deibler, Michael Rhew, Phyllis Simpson, Don Hinckley, James McGinnis, Charles Mohapel, Lisa Hanika, Debra Reeves, David Clark, Michell Schneidkraut, Will Groberg, Wendy Francis, Joanna Smith, Brad Williams, Susan Young, Anna Ostberg, and Keven Hutchinson. Finally, I must thank you, the reader, without whom there would be no impetus to continue these tales. Your comments have proven to be most inspiring, and I assure you I have plenty more tales to tell.