The Fall of Neskaya is a science fantasy novel by American writers Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J. Ross, part of the Darkover series.

Set in The Hundred Kingdoms time period, the book is the first in a three-novel series subtitled The Clingfire trilogy.

[1] The books in The Clingfire trilogy explore, by analogy, the concept of mutually assured destruction and the use of chemical weapons whose consequences are beyond the control of the user.

Bradley's "Compact" gives the Darkovans a way out of this trap through a moral agreement to abjure any weapons that do not place the users within arms' reach of each other (i.e. swords and knives).

This development in Darkover's social order and its author, Varzil the Good, is referenced in most of the earlier and later books, but had not been fully explored before this trilogy.

Rumail tests each of the children for laran, then arranges a proxy marriage between the youngest daughter, Kristlin (who dies about a year later).

At Tramontana, Coryn learns to control his laran, and to put aside his differences with the rival Storn family.

Rumail Deslucido and his brother King Damian scheme to control more of the minor kingdoms of the Hellers, hoping eventually to challenge the Hasturs of the lowlands.

Taniquel tells her uncle what she has observed (Deslucido says she was allowed to sit vigil with her late husband, but in reality, she was locked in her room).

Aran, a matrix worker at Tramontana, informs Coryn that war is coming, and that the two towers must cease contact.

Coryn leads Rafael Hastur's forces through the mountains at Verdanta, freeing his siblings from Deslucido's men.

A ragged man, apparently Rumail Deslucido, arrives in a small village along the Kadarin River, with vengeance on his mind.