The Ill-Made Mute is a fantasy novel written by Australian author Cecilia Dart-Thornton. It was first published in 2001, and it was the first in the Bitterbynde Trilogy. The two other books are The Lady of Sorrows and The Battle of Evernight. Isse Tower is a House of the Stormriders. Stormriders, also known as Relayers, are messengers of the air for people of the high status. The Stormriders fly on winged steeds called eotaurs, and Windships that levitate above the ground because of sildron. Sildron is one of the most valuable metals in the empire of Erith. The metal sildron has the property... of repelling the ground, thus, lifting objects. This metal is used to make the shoes of the Eotaurs and in the building of the Windships to sail the skies. There is only one other metal that can abolish the effect of sildron; andalum. The foundling has no memory of who he was before he was found, but knows only that he is different from all others. Soon, he becomes sick of being treated badly and plans to escape to a city to find a cure for his paradox-ivy poisoning. He stows away on a Windship to escape, but shortly after he is discovered, the ship is attacked by pirates.
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