The Spell Singers

STATED FIRST PRINTING. Sept. 1974 DAW mass market paperback, Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Forest House). Andrew Carr is employed as a technician in the Empire's Mapping and Exploration survey of Cottman IV, known locally as Darkover. His survey plane encounters a storm over the mountains and crashes. Carr survives through the intervention of a diaphanous figure that he initially believes to be a ghost. She tells him her name is Callista, a Keeper, and she is communicating with him through the Overworld. Carr believes none of this, but follows her directions to shelter. Meanwhile, on the road to Armida, Damon Ridenow discusses recent violent conflicts with a native species called the cat-men with his guardsmen. Ridenow is a matrix technician who was recently dismissed by Leonie Hastur, Keeper of Arilinn, on the grounds that he is "too sensitive." During the journey, the group is attacked by an unseen entity. Only Damon Ridenow survives. He arrives at Armida to find that it, too, has been attacked, and Callista Lanart was kidnapped. Her twin, Ellemir Lanart, assures him Callista is alive because she can feel her sister's telepathic presence, though they cannot communicate directly.- Amazon