Achaja

Achaia is a Polish fantasy series of novels written by Andrzej Ziemiański, published in three volumes in 2002, 2003 and 2004 by the Fabryka Słów. The first two volumes received the Janusz A. Zajdel Award nomination (in 2002 and 2003, respectively);^[1] the second one received the Nautilus Award in 2004. All three volumes were reissued in 2011.

Due to an error, the second volume did not include one chapter. It was later published in Science Fiction magazine.

The Achaia series is written as a trilogy and the first three volumes are considered to be the first part of the trilogy. The second part of the trilogy is called Pomnik Cesarzowej Achai.

Plot synopsis^[2]

The young princess Achaia, due to her stepmother's intrigues, is sent to the military service. In a short time, her unit is sent to battlefield and captured by the enemy forces of Luan. The princess is tortured beneath the room in which her father - the Great Duke - is staying during his visit in Luan. Despite hearing the terrible cry of his suffering daughter, the man refuses to trade lands for her freedom and thus Achaia is put into slavery. She is sent to a labour camp to build the Royal Road. In order to survive, she makes a deal with two other slaves to exchange sexual services for their protection. One of them, Hekke, used to be a famous fencer before he became a slave. The man decides to make her his student and teach her all that he knows. After a while, a former princess decides to try her luck and escape, despite the risk of being punished with impalement. Thanks to the help of her friends at the camp, the girl manages to escape and becomes a prostitute in the capital of Luan.

A wizard Meredith is visited by one of the gods, who tells him to slay the leader of The Order, a powerful religious organization that oversees this world. He attempts to fulfill the god's will, but fails and is captured by the Knights of the Order. The man is sentenced to life in a dark, underground cell. Even though it is said that nobody can get into the cell once it is locked, the wizard is soon visited by Virus - a creature that claims to have neither a body nor a soul. Virus promises the man to help him accomplish what nobody ever did - to escape from the Order's prison.

Zaan is a highly intelligent scribe bored with the routine of everyday life. He dreams of becoming a legend for future generation but his life passes monotonously. One day he meets Sirius, a young contract killer, with whom he plots an intrigue to convince the Great Duke Orion that the youth is in fact his long missing son. With his wit and knowledge, the man soon gains power that he has always been dreaming about and starts a war against the whole world.

References