T. L. Mancour

Answering a distress call, the USS Enterprise finds a damaged alien vessel—the Freedom—crewed by a race known as the Vemlans. Their captain, Jared asks for assistance in repairing his ship—assistance Picard and the USS Enterprise are only too happy to provide. But once begun, their relief efforts are interrupted by the arrival of an entire fleet from Vemla, who claim that Jared and his crew are escaped slaves—and their property! As Jared and his people plea for protection and the right to be free, Captain Picard is caught between the demands of his conscience and the dictates of the Prime Directive. And when the Vemlan fleet threatens to fight if the USS Enterprise doesn't stand aside, Picard must choose between the safety of his ship… and the annihilation of an entire race.

From the moment Dara of Westwood spied the Silver Headed Raptor nesting in Rundeval Peak, the precocious redheaded 12-year-old girl was enchanted. The youngest daughter of the Master of the Wood lived in Westwood Hall, in the independently minded Westwood estate of Sevendor. Her determination to capture a baby falcon and train it wasn’t hampered by the fact that Dara had never climbed a mountain, had never been trained in falconry, or even remotely had permission from her father to do it. Dara wanted the falcon...and the only thing in her way was the mountain, an angry mother falcon, and her own fears. But the daring climb up Rundeval and actually capturing the fledgling falcon is just the beginning of her troubles. Actually learning falconry and training the willful bird is a responsibility she had barely considered. Worse, there is trouble afoot in the domain: A new lord has come to rule over Sevendor and all of her people, replacing the corrupt old Sir Erantal. While everyone seems glad to see the old lord go, the new lord is a wizard: a magelord, the first of his kind in 400 years: Lord Minalan the Spellmonger. And he’s not alone. He’s brought thousands of oddly dressed Wilderlanders with him, families escaping the wars in the west...and settling in Sevendor. Will having a new lord of Sevendor affect Dara and her fledgling career in falconry? And what about his magely abilities and the resurgence of magic in general; could such arcane matters truly have any bearing on the Westwood or Dara herself?

When Lenodara the Hawkmaiden - Dara, to her friends - was made an apprentice to the foremost wizard in the world, Minalan the Spellmonger, Magelord of her native land of Sevendor, she thought that the adventurous life was behind her. She looked forward to a long, boring career of learning how to read and taking magic lessons...but Dara’s life as the Spellmonger’s new apprentice is anything but boring! Within days of assuming her new duties, a goblin invasion in the distant land of Gilmora compels Minalan to gather his forces to repel it...and that means Dara, too. Her unique ability to use the ancient Alka Alon weapon, the Thoughtful Knife, may be the only way to thwart the invasion - and combat the dragons that have ravaged the castles of the land. But the battlefield is just the beginning of her new adventure, and she finds the aristocracy of the city of Barrowbell is as challenging as a goblin attack. But new adventures lead Dara to new friends in the unlikeliest of places on her way to becoming the Hawklady!

746 pages ; 23 cm