The Last Tracker

The Last Tracker Tam, Tilda, and Aric are coming into their own and trying to understand the talents they have been given in a world where magic and magical creatures are not only unwelcome, but fast disappearing. Or are they? Twelve years old and fatherless, Tam feels like an outsider in his village.  On the day of the big drumming festival, he and his goat are out in a field when pirates kidnap his entire village. And the pirates are just one indicator of the turmoil in Tam's country. When the mages died banishing the evil dragon Finauld, the Empire of At was weakened.  Now it struggles to keep the peace.  But Prince Aric is convinced magic isn't gone. As the last tracker of a magical creature called a tonkir, he knows it's up to him to find and return the tonkirs to their rightful place, so that magic can flourish again. Meanwhile, Tam is adopted by a family, whose daughter, Tilda, seems to have a secret power of her own…but then Tam himself is kidnapped and thrown into a dank prison cell, with a boy who calls himself a prince! Tam is annoyed by Aric's haughty air, but when the boys are brought before Lord Arno, leader of the slavers, Tam's respect for Aric grows. Lord Arno wants Aric to find the last colony of tonkirs and capture them for his personal gain, and wants Tam, who seems to read the minds of animals, to help him. But pirates attack as Arno is planning, and the boys escape. Prince Aric and Tam summon Tilda, and the three set out on a journey to find the tonkirs and return them to their rightful place in the Empire, before Lord Arno can find them, and before the dragon Finauld can return again.