It was a piece of soft white stone. Veins glittered through it like caught moonlight. One face was as smooth as new fallen snow; the other was engraved with a pattern of flowing lines. Gaia traced her fingers along the carvings. After a long time, she looked up at her mother.
‘What is it?’
All anyone knows about Gaia’s birthday present is that it’s a good luck charm that hasn’t worked. And it goes on not working: winter brings more than the usual hardships of hunger, cold and dragons to Gaia and her brother Tal. When a savage raid by slavers devastates their family and village, they are left with no choice but to leave their mountain home.
As Gaia and Tal head for the capital city, through the wettest winter in living memory and a land held in the harsh grip of the ruling Fellowship, the moonswood begins to seem not lucky but dangerous, and more full of mystery than anyone at home had ever dreamed. And there will be more, and worse, dangers and adventures to come before its secret is finally revealed.
Click on the dragons to read a sample chapter
Tracey Mathias 