THE WOLF BELL

In the same world of Ere but ages before the action in A Ring of Fire (1977), a prophesy is fulfilled when a bastard Seer is born with power to wield the bell of the old wolf cult. Later his selfish and unenlightened young mother Tayba takes the child (Ramad) to a distant land where he develops his powers under the secret tutelage of the slave Seer Jerthon, and where in the mountains he summons friendly wolves with the bell. Meanwhile Tayba becomes the mistress of the land's cruel ruler Venniver, and as Ram engages in a great battle over the Runestone of power, fighting the evil Seer of Pelli and his fire ogres, Tayba vacillates hysterically between Venniver and Jerthon, between her own lusts and her own long-denied Seer powers. Murphy writes at a high pitch as if her own awe might convince readers of the consequence of all this sound and fury. But with Ram projected as a distant Wonder and his characterless mother the fulcrum of the piece, there's no reason why young readers should have any more patience with this than you would.