Lord of Thunder

1962

A year later, Hosteen Storm rides into Arzor's capital, both to register a claim on his new homestead and to see if anyone has any knowledge of what the Norbies are up to. It seems that the natives have decided that there's big magic being made up in the hills.

The situation is made worse when a starship malfunctions and it's lifeboat crashes right in the centre of the Norbie concentration.

Storm is inveigled into going up into the hills to attempt a rescue.

He finds the shattered escape pod and, in turn, is found by those living in the region. As an outworlder, he finds himself 'sacrificed' to the spirit of the mountain. The insides of the range have been hollowed out in a whole sequence of tunnels containing all sorts of mechanical wonders. When their way is blocked by solid rock, Storm follows the spiral engraved on the floor, transporting himself to the central control room of the complex.

There he finds a survivor of the crashed lifeboat who turns out to be a raving nutter, twisted by the powers he attempts to control.

There is a massive confrontation between Storm and his allies - Logan Quade, the Norbie Gorgol, and a second survivor from the lifeboat and the twisted technician which they manage to win.

That only left the massed clans of Norbies gathered outside the mountain entrance to be dealt with but when a confrontation between the powers of the Norbies and of the mountain leaves leaves the Norbies the uncontested winners, things are patched up between settler and Norbie.

This book is available in conjunction with The Beast Master.

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