Mistress of the Empire

Mistress of the Empire

File:Feist & Wurts - Mistress of the Empire Coverart.png Mistress of the Empire first edition cover.
Author	Raymond E. Feist Janny Wurts
Cover artist	Don Maitz
Language	English
Series	Empire Trilogy
Genre	Fantasy novel
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	April 1, 1992
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	613 pp (first edition)
ISBN	0385247192
Preceded by	Servant of the Empire

Mistress of the Empire is a fantasy novel by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. It is the third and final book in the Empire Trilogy and was published in 1992. It was preceded by Servant of the Empire which was published in 1990.

Plot introduction

After rising to power Mara of the Acoma must now face the power of the brotherhood of assassins, the spies of rival houses and the might of the Assembly, who see her as a threat to their power.

Plot summary

In the last novel of the series, Mara's actions in the first two books come back to haunt her. Although revered by the general population as the Servant of the Empire, people whom she had angered take revenge. Her son Ayaki is killed by the Hamoi Tong. A dart that narrowly missed Mara struck the gelding Ayaki was riding, which fell over and crushed him. Surprisingly the token of the Anasati house was found where the assassin slept, unusual because the tong's employers were rarely leaked out. With revenge in her heart, Mara takes a Clan to Clan war with Jiro, Lord of the Anasati, the Hamada Clan to the Ioni Clan. The Great Ones forbid the war and in doing so, obliterate the Pechta House. They claimed it would tear the Empire internally leaving it weak to the outside.

Two years later, an attempt on her life takes the life of her unborn child and leaves her able to only bear one more child. The Hamoi Tong ruthlessly poisons her with a chocolate drink while an assassin, poses as a Midkemian trader dealing in exotic drinks. Only by the quick acting of Arakasi and Hokanu they find the antidote for the poison. Arakasi ruthlessly tortures the Thuril man who ran the apothecary and sold the poison to the Hamoi Tong, eventually killing him. Hokanu is ambushed by assassins at the prayer gate of the estate while trying to bring back the recipe to the antidote but manages to survive. As Mara recovers, Arakasi is given the task to destroy the Hamoi Tong by stealing its records.

Her last child, with her consort, Hokanu, is a daughter name Kasuma. Arakasi delivers the tongs records and finds that Hokanu's father, Kamatsu, was murdered by a poisoned dart paid by Jiro. Mara realises that the Great Ones forbid the war as she had risen to high in power. She also concludes that the changes she and Hokanu tried to bring were stagnated due to the Assembly's hold over the Tsurani culture. The revolution of Tsurani traditions and society is completed in this novel as Mara journeys to the heart of the Thuril Highlands and the city of the cho-jas where she seeks the aid of the cho-jas magicians, powerful spellcasters that were forbidden in the Empire at the time the cho-ja in the Empire were forced to treaty. She returns with the help of two cho-ja mages, finding that the Emperor Inchidar was killed by an Omechan cousin.

Mara realises that the office of Warlord is no longer the prize and that the golden throne of the emperor was open- whoever wed the late Inchindar's daughter, Jehalia would become emperor, but word from Arakasi was bad, Jiro's army was already on the march to the holy city. Hokanu depoloys the Shinzawai warriors in an effort to cut Jiro from reaching Kentosani while the Acoma and Anasati armies crush together. Jiro is strangled as Hokanu's superior mounted horse warriors cut the Anasati honour guard, however Chumaka, the First Advisor is taken prisoner. In an expensive sacrifice to ward off the Great Ones, Mara chooses her oldest advisors, Keyoke, Incomo and many servants and warriors to act as a decoy while she travels in secrecy. Tapek, a Great One obliterates them to discover that Mara was not in the litter. The series ends with Mara placing her twelve-year-old son, Justin, onto the Imperial throne with the help of the two Choja Magician which serves as Emissaries from Chakaha and support from all the Temples. She acts as his regent and is given the title "Mistress of the Empire". She is reunited with Kevin of Zun at the end.

Arakasi, Mara's Spymaster, is focused upon more in this novel.