Mountain Glass

A world of magic gone very, very wrong. Amid the ruins of a long-destroyed empire -- of which no one can remember the name -- independent fortress-cities battle for supremacy and resources. At the head of their armies, witches use blood and bone magics to tear one another apart, their ancestors' lost technologies reduced to blunt force weapons of war; in the mountainous no-man's-lands, spirits and gods stalk the wild places and devour the unwary intruders.   Resources are deeply scarce, and cities are constantly fighting over foraging grounds, whether their enemies are the spirits who guard the richest lands or other cities who claim what the spirits do not. Witches are the cornerstones of these survival efforts. A city without its witches is a city that starves, which means that every city will harshly punish someone who wants to remove their witches from the front lines... even the witches themselves.   Meanwhile, spirit magic -- dangerously corrosive, uncontrollable, and overwhelmingly powerful -- is seen as the next great weapon for changing the tides of the never-ending fight.   The spirits might have something to say about this.