"The Mountains of Desire" is a greatly expanded retelling in prose and poetry ofthe ancient story of love and the sacred quest which comprises half the materialin The Seventh Song. The Mountains of Desire incorporates new sourcematerial recently discovered in a remote mountain village. Two outcast children, the mysterious Tay Nee and Sikeemila, the girl whodiscovers the little boy alone and lost in a forest meadow, grow up in seclusionunder the protection and guidance of Sanshee, an old warrior of renown who isSikeemila s grandfather. The childhood sweethearts grow up to become Saluway warrors devoted to one another in life and death and to the fulfillment of thequest of the sacred stone. To achieve the quest, Tay Nee, renamed Tesara, musttraverse the desert of the heart and enter the fallen temple haunted by an evilspirit to recover the sacred stone, and the two warriors must then return thelegendary stone to its original Tisou people, forced by invading barbarians towithdraw a thousand years ago into the fabled Mountains of Desire, from whichno one has ever returned. Hunted by the murderous Vashiseema, fighting againstamost impossible odds, the two warriors fall deeply in love on their embattledjourney in the midst of many formidable difficulties and mortal struggles, asthey seek to achieve the redemptive quest of the sacred stone.
