Return to Urte, a land in chaos, where the smallest choice may save or damn the world.The Moontide has come, and a scarlet tide of Rondian legions is flooding into the East, slaughtering and pillaging in the name of Emperor Constant. But the Scytale of Corineus, the source of ultimate magical power, has slipped through the emperor's fingers. His ruthless inquisitors are desperately seeking the artefact, before it falls into the hands of those who would bring him down. But there are some who have pledged to end the cycle of war and restore peace to Urte. They are the unlikeliest of heroes: a failed mage, a gypsy and a lowly market-girl. As East and West clash more violently than ever before, the people of Urte will discover that love, loyalty and truth can be forged into weapons as deadly as swords and magic.

Author Biography

David Hair is the New Zealand-based author of three fantasy series. The Aotearoa Series is a young adult series published by HarperCollins in New Zealand. His first novel, The Bone Tiki, won Best First Book at the 2010 NZ Post Children's Book Awards. The series is built around the concept of two parallel New Zealands--the modern world, and another magical world peopled by legends, historical personages, and the ghosts of ordinary New Zealanders. There are six books in the series, which concluded in 2014 with Magic and Makutu. Hair has also written a four book YA series, The Return of Ravana, set in India and published by Penguin India. The series tells the story of a group of people whose lives are linked by one tragic past life, the consequences of which resonate in every subsequent life, with horrific results. Book One, Pyre of Queens, won the LIANZA award for Best YA Novel in 2012.