The Heartsong Fountain (Leafstone Saga)

The once beautiful land of Sa’akna is being destroyed not by creepy supernatural powers (and that’s a relief) but by quite human strip mining and brutal laws. A prophecy says the new high priest will bring hope and healing, but where is she? On the road or in hiding, Kyura is pursued by her mad cousin and the evil wizard Posthilnueze, who has returned from the dead (wizards have ways of doing that) to seize the Leafstone Shield. Without the Shield, Kyura will have no magic and can’t prove she’s the destined ruler. Actually, she didn’t have much magic to begin with, but at least she has a ring that disguises her as a dumpy middle-aged woman. Don’t you wish you had a ring like that?How can she plot a revolution with no army, aided only by a handful of eccentric friends, a couple of outlaw wizards, and a dragon with a broken wing? Who can she trust not to betray her? How can she lead the faithful as high priest when their god, if he ever existed at all, vanished centuries before? Are these rhetorical questions? No, and here’s another: How are you supposed to relate to your mother when you’re seventeen and your mother is only twelve?