The Chaos Woods 

The Chaos Woods

Author: Scott T. Barnes

Publisher: New Myths Publishing

The Cornic Empire functions on three rules: Humans shall not own horses. Humans shall not own magic. Humans shall not own wheels. But when a thieves' auction goes bad, young Telyn winds up with a relic from the Age of Lies-a fragment of a magical mask. She and her friends use the Ever-Guise to improve their mountain village, but each suggestion backfires in some fundamental way. Each suggestion erodes their humanity.

“Let us examine it,” the trogo rumbled. “Perhaps this is illusion and counterfeit.”  “Properly used, the Ever-Guise wields a subtle magic—not something you can easily test,” Dagger replied, passing the mask over to the trogo. “And besides, with the chaos wood it will not function properly here.” As it passed from human to nonhuman, lamplight bounced from the mask’s surface, and Telyn noted that plates of diverse materials comprised it—ceramic, pewter, ebony wood, banded alabaster, translucent jade, the whole forming a soul-filled puzzle. P23.

The cornics are closing in. The buyer sends a penumbra daemon to seek the missing piece. Telyn's only hope lies deep in the Chaos Woods-that mysterious forest with the power to transmogrify magic-and more.