The Devil's Armor

From the flaps of the DAW first edition: "Akeela the Mad, King of Liiria, is dead. His once great kingdom lies in ruins: its army decimated, its capital city of Koth ransacked, its people demoralized by poverty and crime. On the hill overlooking Koth, Akeela's great library, the Cathedral of Knowledge, still stands - mute testimony to his once great dreams. But even the library has changed, for holed up in its fortresslike structure the remaining soldiers of the Royal Chargers, Liiria's elite fighting troop, make their final stand, protecting Akeela's greatest achievement, and desperately defending their land against usurpers. For a dangerous invader has just conquered the neighboring kingdom of Norvor. Jazana Carr, the Diamond Queen,whose wealth has bought her the world's most powerful mercenary army, has overrun Norvor and is now poised at Liiria's border. Lukien, the Bronze Knight of Liiria, was once the kingdom's greatest champion. Consumed by guilt over his betrayal of Akeela, yest still obsessed by his love for Cassandra, Akeela's dead queen, he now lives in self-imposed exile in the far southern desert. As penance for his past actions, Lukien has devoted himself to the protection of the mountain fortress of Grimhold, and now wears one of the magical amulets known as the Eyes of God. Word of Grimhold's healing magic has reached far and wide, and people from the war-torn lands in the north have come streaming across the vast southern desert hoping to experience the power of the place they call "Mount Believer." Minikin, the diminutive elfin Mistress of Grimhold, has been overwhelmed by requests for help - requests she can't grant, as the magical spirits that inhabit Grimhold and lend its inhabitants their healing talents are too few for the task. Desperate refugees fill the streets of Jador - the desert city allied with Grimhold - and Jador has become the target of violent bands of desert bandits, preying on seekers and Jadori alike. Even Lukien, with his legendary military prowess augmented by the life-giving powers of the Eye of God, cannot protect the entire south. But Grimhold itself harbors a threat that could far outweigh all others. Deep in the lowest levels of this ancient mountain stronghold, behind locked doors and magical seals, stands a suit of armor unlike any other. For millennia it has stood erect on its dais as if filled by an invisible body, huge, black, horned and spiked, pulsing with preternatural dark light, with a death's head helmet and rings of black chain mail. Indestructible, beautiful in its monstrous power, this armor is the greatest and most infamous creation of a sorcerer who has been dead for thousands of years. Dead, and yet his murderous spirit has lived on in the Devil's Armor, waiting for the proper time to lure an innocent victim into its evil sway..."