Book One in the epic trilogy 'The Stone Dance Of The Chameleon'.
'The Chosen' carries us into the Commonwealth of the Three Lands, to its heart, Osrakum, an earthly paradise hidden within a volcanic crater. Here the society of the Masters has evolved, men who rule with savage cruelty. soon after Carnelian is born, his father is exiled to a remote island where Carnelian grows up free form the rituals and pomp of the Masters, secure in the love of his household.
Years later, a ship comes flying through the winter gales and destroys his world. Three Masters disembark and as they remove their masks of gold, Carnelian is awed by the light that seems to radiate from their skin. In formal conclave they beg Carnelian's father to return with them to Osrakum to oversee the election of a new God Emperor.
And so Carnelian begins to fulfil his destiny. He is forced to learn bitter lessons in bloodshed, power and intrigue. After a perilous journey, they reach the Crater of Osrakum, where Carnelian ultimately finds both love and treachery, and sets in motion the concluding events in a story four thousand years old.
