PROLOGUE

        "Father!  You cannot!", his daughter's voice sounded in his mind.   "Mother is alive.  I tell you, she is alive, pray do not forsake her."   Tears of grief running freely on her face, his beautiful daughter begged of him, her image forever etched in his mind.   "Pray, Father, do not stop searching for her...   Father!...   I beg of you..."
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        Armand De Marmore, the mighty Lord Ashcroft, was powerless in the face of misfortune -- his pregnant wife lost to him, his daughter hating him for his decision to stop a futile quest...   For months now he had been desperately looking for his wife with no results, while his mind searched the past for clues...