Maida, Liandra, Gleve, Anglewart, Jessa and Melisande have each paid a terrible price in the quest for the secrets of the Dragon Priestesses, but key pieces have been recovered, a tiny flame of hope lit, a transformation begun. Although she has refused to leave her room at the Healing School for months, since she was confronted by Mothers Sarah and Tess, Mother Peg finds herself in the mainstream of history.  

Maida and Jessa struggle with their responsibilities, their burdens made heavier by loss.

Maida faces a life-altering decision and Jessa must take leadership. 

King Torrie and his army march against the Dragons; Maida, Liandra and Jessa are caught in the conflict.

Melisande keeps vigil at the bedside of her dying husband while Jessa faces the possibility of losing hers in the new war against the Dragons Torrie declared as soon as he became King.

Jessa finds love. Maida and Liandra find each other. Keiran travels to the Healer’s School where he triggers a conflict between Mother Peg and her oldest friends. King Anglewart and Torrie, his son and heir, face each other in single combat for the Kingdom.

Still unaware that the King’s men are closing in on her, Maida finally rebels against her fate and is offered an important role in the quest for the knowledge of the Dragon Priestesses. Jessa is married and Anglewart’s Heir challenges his father to fight to the death for the throne of the Westlands.

Gleve is a prisoner of the King and Liandra finds herself in the Dragon’s realm. Maida treats Keiran’s Dragon wounds, unaware that the King has sent men to find her.

There are two Dragon attacks, on Liandra and Keiran. Anglewart confronts Melisande; she has to guess how much he knows.

Jessa is taken prisoner by the King’s men, raising some questions for Anglewart. Mother Peg starts out on a journey to the Healing School, taking Liandra with her, leaving Maida to deal with the People’s belief that she is a Healer.

Melisande and Liandra are reunited, and Melisande asks Jessa to take on a crucial task 

Keiran’s find and Ev’s promise both yield important clues to the secret of the Dragon Priestesses and Liandra’s child is born.

Keiran finds what he’s looking for and Ev finally gets her opportunity to honour her promise to her mother. Torrie, King Anglewart’s heir is furious with his father, who stands in his way of making war on the Dragons and plans to marry the woman he wants to wed himself.

Two journey’s begin. Melisande and her party travel east toward Mother Peg’s cabin, while Gleve and Keiran make their way toward the dangerous Northern mountains, home of the Dragons.

Strangely, Liandra can read the mind of Peg and Maida’s hired man, Rafe, who can’t speak and appears to have an intellectual disability. Ev searches for another way to fulfull her promise to her dead mother. Melisande comes up with a plot, and Keiran’s memories continue to emerge.

Gleve’s friendship with Keiran and Maida’s friendship with Liandra both reach a point of crisis, with very different results.

Melisande, officially dead, becomes the Lady Merrit, a widow in the Women’s Retreat House, where Jessa and Ev are assigned to her care. Liandra, far away in the Eastlands, grieves for her, turning to her budding friendship with Maida for comfort. Keiran returns, which is both good and bad news for Gleve.

Gleve’s patient remembers who he is and the responsibility he left behind. He must leave immediately to travel home, wherever that is. Ev, too, has a responsibility. To fulfill it, she must escape. Queen Melisande’s nightmare deepens and then, abruptly, ends.

Princess Liandra insists she is not pregnant. Gleve struggles to remain professional as their patient begins to recover his memories. Queen Melisande decides to confront her husband as her worst fears come to pass.

Queen Melisande grieves. Her sons have gone into their father’s army. One daughter is dead and the other, accidentally pregnant, has gone to stay with an old Healer in the Eastern forest. Her husband is having an affair with the young daughter of a powerful family. She suspects he wants to get her out of the way so he can re-marry. Meanwhile Peg and Maida struggle to find what remains of the Dragon Priestess’s knowledge while hiding their project from their unhappy royal guest.

Gleve returns home to find his Teacher caring for a mysterious, comatose patient. Princess Liandra arrives at Mother Peg’s cabin, and proves to be a very difficult guest.

Maida waits anxiously for Mother Peg’s return. She has been using her mistress’s absence to study forbidden Healing Journals, pinning her hopes on a favour she asked of her friend Gleve. She also worries about news she has for Mother Peg: the King’s unmarried daughter is pregnant. He wants the old Healer to hide her until the child is born and quietly find it an adoptive home.

Mother Tess worries about a troubling dream while Mother Peg pursues her obsession. Young Gleve, although delighted to be accepted as a fully qualified Healer, worries what will become of his beloved Teacher. The Spring Equinox Ritual arrives and the Old Ones tell The Story.

We meet Mother Peg, a Senior Healer of the Earth People, absolutely determined to find the lost secrets of the Dragon Priestesses before she dies, and two young servants in the Women’s Retreat House, Jessa and Ev, friends despite their very different origins and dreams.