Sneering, sarcastic, and lacking in combat skills, the crown prince of Agolith makes an unlikely hero. But he has promised to rescue a band of nomads, and he takes his promises very seriously indeed.

Author's Notes:

This is the first installment of a story I began many years ago, and then decided to set aside. I didn't like the way it was progressing, and I thought that maybe I just wasn't ready to handle a story of this length, bredth and complexity. Nor did I feel I could do justice to my characters.

But the characters stayed with me, and I found the project impossible to forget. Eventually I decided I was ready to make another attempt.

Frequently animals are depicted in fantasies as being humans with four legs and fur. That can be fun, but occasionally I yearn for stories featuring animals that really are animals, and that was one of my goals in for this particular series.