If we were that type, we would have killed you when you accused us. You are brave enough, but you underderstand nothing outside of your own part of the city.
In the dark of the night, Zappin's expectations for the future are dashed by a theft from his father's jewelry shop, a robbery unprecedented in the well-ordered city of Tirravon.
Zappin, however, suspects men he has recently met, men who professed a hunger for jewels.
He must strike without delay because gemstones, carved in the shape of arrowheads, have been discovered on a hunting expedition and the men Zappin suspects are going after them.
In an effort to catch the theives, Zappin joins the dangerous venture, one that will take him on a journey to the untamed territories outside the safety of Tirravon's walls.
Too late to turn back, Zappin learns the creatures that crafted the arrowheads live in a dark and deadly forest he hoped never to enter. Zappin must now endure the fight, battling alongside men whom he has estranged with accusations of theft.
It will not end this way, Father. I will show you my worth.
Zappin has come no closer to finding the thief who broke into his father's jewelry shop. He sets out again, this time searching the streets of his home city of Tirravon.
The closer he comes to finding the thief, however, the more resistance he faces from his father and from the leaders of Tirravon.
He has gained the assistance of new friends, but the methods they employ might soon earn him a visit to the local jail.
His most helpful ally, it would seem, is his wicked stepmother, Sanirri.
Despite the ground he gains in his search, tragedy waits ahead of him, on of such magnitude that it will tear him away from the trail of the jewel thief and alter his future forever.
A Forgotten Symbol; A Crumbled Fortress; A Deadly Trap.
His father and childhood home gone, Zappin must now face the world alone. A life as a jeweler awaits him but, before he can walk that path, he vows first to avenge the past. The men who destroyed his life must pay.
A mysterious symbol leads to the discovery of a fallen keep, a crumbled fortress in the wilderness. Buried under its broken remains are the bones of a village, where whole families lost their lives years before. All clues suggest that his enemy waits for him there.
But the Jortod Keep is more than mere ruins, and Zappin's enemies have had time to prepare. Users of magic, they have set an intricate trap.
Once it is sprung, Zappin's only chance for escape will be to leave the last shreds of his youth behind and take his first step forward as a leader of men.
In a forgotten tower, witches prepare for battle
When Zappin accuses his stepmother, Sanirri, of witchcraft, the encounter devolves into a wicked act of spite.
Zappin assembles his friends to pursue his stepmother across the plains, racing to apprehend her before she escapes into another land and disappears forever.
But those with him do not agree on how to end Sanirri's threat and Zappin's control of his party stretches thin. Facing mind-bending spells and growing forces under Sanirri's control, Zappin learns Sanirri's witchcraft has a sinister source.
Zappin yearns only to stop his stepmother and rescue as many of the spellbound captives as possible. His companions, however, have other ideas, leaving Zappin to wonder how many will die on the cold and bleak mountainside.
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