The second chapter of book one (pages 39 to 57) of Sharra's Exile was previously published in a slightly different form as a short story entitled "Blood Will Tell" in The Keeper's Price.
Sharra's Exile falls in the part of the Darkover timeline that the author called "Against the Terrans: The Second Age (after the Comyn)".
Lew and Kennard Alton have been absent from Darkover for three years, since the events of the Sharra Rebellion (as seen in The Heritage of Hastur).
Despite numerous attempts, Terran medics were not able to restore Lew's hand, but he is slowly recovering his mental and emotional control.
Kennard receives a message from Dyan Ardais: he must go back to Darkover to prevent the Comyn Council from granting the Alton Domain to Gabriel Lanart.
Two challengers appear: Marius Alton and Jeff Kerwin (née Damon Aillard-Alton and called Ridenow; from The Bloody Sun).
Callina does not want to marry Beltran, but the older isolationist members of the Council (especially Danvan and Dyan) believe that reuniting the Comyn will help them repel Terran colonialism.
Moreover, Dyan wants to ally with Beltran so that the Council can threaten the Terrans with the Sharra matrix, forcing them to leave Darkover.
Lew is plagued with thoughts of Sharra and finally goes to Callina in the Aillard apartments, where he also finds Linnell and Regis.
To reach the sword, Callina and Lew must penetrate the defensive spells, which require a person who is of Comyn blood and was not reared on Darkover.
Callina and Lew use a giant matrix screen to teleport to Darkover a Terran named Kathie Marshall, the young nurse that took care of Dio on Vainwal, who is the identical double of Linnell.
On the morning of the Festival, Regis learns from Dan Lawton that the Terrans are seeking the arrest of Robert Kadarin.
Regis flees the Aldaran apartments to avoid revealing that Dyan, himself, has the Alton gift and can therefore operate Sharra.
Regis authorizes Dan Lawton to send a helicopter to Hali to rescue Lew, Callina, and Kathie.
When the helicopter returns, Lew is nearly dead, but Regis takes Sword of Aldones and transforms into Hastur, Son of Light.
In the forecourt of Comyn Castle, Thyra and Kadarin wield the Sharra Matrix against Regis, who has the Sword of Aldones.
Kadarin and Thyra disappear with Sharra, but this action results in the accidental death of Dyan Ardais and Callina Aillard.
Walter Breen's The Darkover Concordance indicates that while some of the Sharra matrices legitimately belonged to the Forge Folk, some were weapons left over from the Ages of Chaos.
[1] Dave Pringle reviewed Sharra's Exile for Imagine magazine and wrote: "Jewels and telepathy, a hierarchical society with elaborate protocol, obsessions with lineage and inheritance – all the familiar ingredients are here, mixed into a fine stew of anguish and action".