When True Night Falls

Infobox Book |
name = When True Night Falls


image_caption =
author = Celia S. Friedman
country = United States
language = English
series = Coldfire Trilogy
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = DAW Books
release_date = October 1, 1993
media_type = Print (hardcover)
pages = 592 pp (hardcover reissue edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-88677-569-8 (hardcover reissue edition)
preceded_by = Black Sun Rising
followed_by = Crown of Shadows

"When True Night Falls", published in 1993 by DAW Books is a fantasy novel by Celia S. Friedman. It is the second book in the Coldfire Trilogy.

Plot summary

In "When True Night Falls", Damien, Hesseth, and Tarrant land on the shores of the Eastern Continent where the order of the Church have managed to subdue the unconscience working of the Fae. Consequently the technology of the civilization is far more advanced than the Western Continent as is seen by the casual use of explosive weapons and fireworks. While conversing with various leaders, the group learns that only women are allowed to rise to high powers in the Eastern Church. Many rarely see the Magistrate or holy women of the Church except for odd snipits of time and it is discovered by the group that the Magistrate and holy women are in fact rakh disguised with tidal fae.

After learning of the corruption starting on the Eastern Continent the group manage to trace it south, to the crystal palace of the Immortal Prince, and his Iezu servant, Calesta. Along the way, they rescue a girl, Jenseny, whose father was killed and impersonated by the Prince's rakh servants. Jenseny is driven near to maddness for what events she has seen and her rare ability to see and control tidal fae. While scared and untrustful she manages to form a bond with Hesseth who is unable to bare children as was ritual to the rakh who journey away from their homes to mingle with humans.

The Prince makes a deal with Tarrant; in return for immortality, the Hunter must lead Hesseth, Damien, and Jenseny into a trap. But there was one catch to the deal: the Immortal Prince's plans include the corruption of the Church, and the former Prophet is not willing to accept that.

Meanwhile Damien, Hesseth and Jenseny cross a seemingly endless desert populated with scraggly white trees and skeletons. Damien is hesitant in crossing the desert as the skeletons indicate some form of predator but sees nothing that could possibly pose a true threat. The group decides to cross and settle down for the night under a tree. Damien and Hesseth awaken to find that the trees roots have begun to grow into their bodies. While at first they cannot move, they both eventualy break free of the trees but find the roots too far driven unto Jenseny's body to forcefully remove. Damien in turn uses the fae to do a reverse-healing on the roots, thereby killing the tree on a cellular level.

Soon afterwards the group notice that there are large quadrapeds headed towards them with the intent purpose of killing them. In the escape that follows, Hesseth willingly gives up her life to save Jenseny - feeling that Jenseny was much akin to a child of her own and thereby willing to possess the greatest honor in sacrifice.

Tarrant joins the group at nightfall and leads Damien and Jenseny into the trap in the Prince's lands but finds a way to smuggle a coldfire-worked knife into Damien's hands. Damien attempts to kill the Prince, but the Prince's soul jumps into the body of his rakh captain. Jenseny finds the coldfire knife, and, hiding it, makes a deal with the Immortal Prince: he can have her body, and with it, her ability to work the tidal fae, a newly evolved human trait. The Prince agrees, but just as he is entering her body, Jenseny stabs herself, managing to kill them both.

Damien and Gerald Tarrant return north where civil unrest has broken out due to the revealing of the corruption in the Church. The new leader of the Church plans to purge the Eastern Continent which in turn infuriates Tarrant as that was not Tarrant's conception of the Church. However in Tarrants confrontation with the new leader, Tarrant accidentally creates a "divining" of the possible fall of the Church thereby brining the new leader to his senses and stopping the slaughter of thousands of innocent lives. By doing so, Tarrant breaks his oath to the Unnamed and endangers his life in the process- a fact Calesta is quick to catch on to.

Publication details

*1993, United States, DAW Books ISBN 0-88677-569-8, Pub date 1 October 1993, Hardcover reissue
*1994, United States, DAW Books ISBN 0-88677-615-5, Pub date 1 September 1994, Paperback reissue
*2005, United States, DAW Trade ISBN 0-7564-0316-2, Pub date 4 October 2005, Paperback reprint