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story identification - Having a hard time remembering an old book trilogy


A fantasy fiction series, there was a wizard who'd tasked a king to slay this evil shadow lord, but when the shadow lord retreated underground, the king was afraid of the dark and would not finish him off. The wizard was disgusted by the displace, and gave him a cloak that had many sparkling jewels that would shine light to keep the cowardly king safe. However he told the king that one day he'd be replaced by the son of... I forget what exactly.


Years later the son of a (I want to say he had some mental disability that prevented him from doing much work) who worked for the king as a... candle lighter or something, was tasked to find an old sword (I think) that could be used to slay the shadow lord. He went to the homes of the previous great knights for aid and such, one was an archer I believe, and I think there was a female... Anyways the sword had to be remade, and then could defeat the darkness. Eventually did, but the dark lord had a son who consumed flesh, and would eventually be raised as his son or something. Details are fuzzy.


Father of the main character couldn't feel anything in his hands due to dealing with hot wax all the time (Which was the hint, son of the ____ would replace you).


Umm... the Shadow Lord had a cloak of shadows, and when the son had it I think he affixed it to a spear and had a cloak of living rats or something...



Does anyone know of this series?



Answer



I think this may be the Loremasters of Elundium series by Mike Jefferies.


The shadow lord is Krulshards, and the king is Holbian. Holbian is given the cloak of jewels by the Master of Magic, Nevian, when his fear of the dark stops him pursuing the shadow lord:



'My Lord,' whispered Nevian coming to the King's side, You must follow Krulshards into the City of Night and finish this day's work.'

'I cannot do it!' hissed Holbian, turning to face the Master of Magic. 'Even if I wished otherwise, I cannot enter that place.'



The man with no feeling in his hands is Ironhand the candlelighter:



Ironhand smiled as he knelt at the King's feet, 'Lord, Lord, I am nothing but the Candleman. In the tallow hall where the candles are made the Master cursed me as an idle child and plunged my hands into the hot wax as a punishment. The molten wax burned the skin from my hands leaving them raw and bleeding. I was cast out into the darkness to die.'

'And? Tell me how you grew new hands that have no feeling. For that is a strange and powerful magic.'




And it's Ironhand's son, Thane, who is the subject of the prophecy:



There is more to this than simple magic. Have you a son, Candleman? Have you?'

The candlelighter shook with fear, 'Do not kill him, my Lord, he is dull-witted like his father and a baby amongst the wicks and snuffers of this great hall.'



The three books deal with the defeat of the shadow lord and the subsequent battle with the shadow lord's son, Kruel. The scene with the cloak of rats is:



Arbel looked around the chamber, his eyes brightening 'What better!' he shouted, stooping and picking up marching belt with one hand while with the other he gather a swarm of shadow rats. 'I will have a tunic of living darkness, he laughed, threading the squealing rats, one by one, by their tails through the chain links of the belt. Bending again gathered handfuls of the rats and wove their tails tight together and flung them across his shoulders. Sharp claws skidded on the smooth armour and brittle spines rattled in rage but Arbel only laughed. 'Any warrior I embrace; draw within the cloak will be bitten into the darkness!'



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