When Prince Kynan arrives in Everdream to rescue his mother the queen, he finds more than he’d bargained for.
The world is as vast and limitless as the real world—the Wake. And amid its forests, rivers, and ruins there lurks a host of mythical beasts, all bent on hunting down any living Dreamer and killing him. Kynan has no leads to find his mother in this strange, hostile world.
Enter Grigor.
Grigor comes out of nowhere, it seems, in the nick of time, to distract a Gryphon just long enough for Kynan to get away. He leads Kynan to a safe place and grudgingly agrees to help him find the queen.
Kynan sees Grigor as a young boy about 12, skinny to the point of scrawniness, with sandy hair, dressed in a leather jerkin and breeches and a grubby shirt.
Yet, as Kynan well knows, appearances can be deceiving in Everdream. While Kynan is a youth of 15 in the Wake and a small one at that, his alter-ego in Everdream is a tall, well-muscled, black haired and bearded warrior in full armour.
As far as Kynan knows, Grigor could be any age, or any station in life. Although Grigor’s young appearance lulls Kynan into a sense of companionship and trust, the odd look or turn of phrase constantly reminds him that he could be much older.
Grigor’s expertise in the ways of Everdream prove invaluable. He not only shows Kynan the way to the queen’s prison, but provides him with food for the journey and light in dark places. He also provides Kynan with a warning—that rescuing the queen is a futile quest and he would do better to turn back.
Kynan is sure that Grigor is hiding something. But try as he might, he can’t uncover the boy’s secrets without unearthing his own.
As it turns out, the secrets of the beggar lad of Everdream might have more to do with Kynan’s past than he realized.
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