Awakened late in the night, Rowan's life is changed forever. The events that follow propel him on a journey that only the foolhardy or desperate would risk. He is led into the forest and up the mountain - into a whole world of secrets in itself. This is only the beginning of his adventures. Something is stirring in the forest, something more ominous than the rising threat across the seas. Fearful travelers whisper of a darkness breathing in the forest, disturbing it, corrupting it. In the very heart of these stirrings, Rowan encounters that which defies belief, leaving him speechless with terror - and wonder. A