Finally, Roland of the High Crags is out.  I love this series I am trying to write.  Fantasy with a different twist.  So, when Treastle Press agreed to re-issue the first novel, and agreed to possibly continue the series, I leapt at it with both feet flying.

Today, I thought I'd write a synopsis of the book.

For more than a thousand years Dragon and Man have been warring with each other.  A war fought for so long both have forgotten what Honor, Mercy, and Peace actually mean.

But not just mortal Dragon and Man war.  The gods themselves war against each other.  Dragon gods warring against the gods of Man.  A vicious war.  Each the nemesis of the other.  A war that stretches so far back in time no one remembers how it originated.

Therein lies the first mystery of the series.  The reasons why the war began in the first place.

Mankind has been pushed off the rolling plains and fertile valleys, their kingdoms destroyed, and forced to flee high into the snow capped mountain regions.  The high country offers Mankind their only refuge.  Dragons fear mountains.  Their supersititions and mythical stories tell them mountains have spirits that reside within powerful enough to destroy all.  So for a thousand-plus years Dragon and Man have fought every time Man descended from the high peaks--or when one or more daring Dragon lords decided to assault the heights.

But one year a human warrior/monk-wizard feels the stirrings of an ancient Evil.  Dragon prophecy says that one particular Dragon clan will rise again and wage war on mankind.  From this clan will be born a Dragon child--a female who possesses all the powers of the Netherworld.  And when she grows to adulthood, she will unify all the Dragon clans and lead them on the last great war against humanity.

The Netherworld is the supernatural world.  And Infinity.  And the River of Time.  It is where Evil resides.  It is where Knowledge resides.  Where the Past, Present, and the Future resides.  It is the source of magic.  Only a select few have the powers to tap the powers of the Netherworld.

Roland of the High Crags has that power.  A Bretan wizard and warrior monk, Roland has fought the Dragon all his life.  Confronted Evil whenever, and wherever, he has found it.  But when the day comes he discovers a dragon child is the promised Fifth Sister--the female child of the Dragon clan prophecised to come and destroy Mankind--he finds himself in an quandry.

Dragon prophecy says she is the weapon created by the Dragon gods to destroy Mankind.  His holy vows demand he destroy her.  Destroy prophecy.  But he hesitates.  She is only a child.  At the moment, an innocent child with no Evil residing in her heart.  To kill her would mean to destroy an innocent life.  His vows also forbid him from such an act.

To kill the child or not kill the child.  Roland finds himself in a most delicate situation.

But he also sees opportunity.  An idea awakes in his soul.  A way may be at hand which could end the endless warring between foes.  And the key to this offering for peace lies in the hands of the Dragon child.  The weapon designed by the Dragon gods themselves.

Essentially, could he take a Dragon weapon and turn it against those who had so carefully forged it into existence?  Could he destroy Dragon prophecy by using the ultimate Dragon weapon?  The plan is frought with dangers.  The child is already a powerful, but untrained, wizardress.  She has powers far stronger than his own.  Could he guide her, train her, to resist Dragon prophecy and become an ally?

We shall find out.  Interestingly, I don't know how the series is going to end.  Roland could very well lose his life.  Dragon prophecy might indeed be too strong to destroy.  Evil, in the end, could become the victor.

For, as any true believer of the Bretan Way knows;  Evil can never be destroyed.  Only momentarily defeated.