Stephen Paul

Heart of the Dragon Stephen Paul

Gareth Hensleap thought his fighting days were over, but when an army of nightmarish monsters invades his homeland, the former military legend finds himself forced to take up the sword again in the most important fight of all--the fight to save his family. While Gareth is no stranger to combat, it is one of his ten young children who may find the power to save them all. The powerful dragon Xirdneh has come to the shores of Jenai seeking the key to immortality, and the people inhabiting the land mean nothing to him until Sarily Hensleap, a defiant teenage girl, destroys one of his eyes with a flaming arrow. Caught up in the chaos of war, the Hensleap family is separated in their attempt to flee to safety. For Gareth, five of his ten children are missing. His struggle to protect those that are with him is magnified by his concern for those who aren't. Fighting against monsters of incredible size and strength, Gareth sets off on a quest to unite and protect his family. His three oldest children, Jake, Edwin, and Sarily, are forced to fend for themselves when their chance to rendezvous with their father is cut off. Ten-year-old twins Jak and Zak find themselves in deeper trouble-partially of their own making-and forced to flee on their own. Dragons, monsters, haunted forests, and cursed cities threaten the family at every turn, but the greatest danger may be the betrayal of one of their own kind. Amidst the chaos and death of war, the Hensleaps fight to find each other and fulfill the destiny spoken of in The Warrior Prophecy.