The Spirit Ring

Locus Award nominee 1993.

Brought up by her widowed father, legendary creator of truly enchanted objets d'art, Fiametta was a good and faithful daughter... if perhaps a little wild. She wanted desperately to be more than her father's unpaid and untrained apprentice; she wanted to use the magic that she knew lay within her. But despite all tears and pleadings, Master Beneforte remained more likely to have her scrub the kiln than help create a magic chalice. After all, it was a great waste to train a mere daughter beyond the needs of the moment.

But all that changed with the flash of the dagger that ripped her father's patron from the world. Soon father and daughter were running for their lives, and not long after Fiametta was running alone – and all that could save her was her own single magical creation...