Nabrie is an ordinary girl living a quaint life in the country side of Mar. She leads a simple life as a farm girl with the Gregorys, a family that adopted her when her parents died. Nabrie spends her free time reading about a far away world where magic exists. When the 63rd Wizard of Ralshur, Daithi, comes to visit and she finds out that such a world was not far away at all but a few days distance only. The wizard tells her she is destined for greater things and she possesses great power. He informs her that a black witch, Agrona, has removed all magic from their world and as the kingdoms wizard it is his job to stop her. He also believes that Nabrie can help him in this mission. The wizard takes her to the country of Ralshur where she is to train to achieve better control of her body, mind and magic. She is taught by a talking falcon, Dart, who is not impressed by much. After her training is finished Daithi sends her on a journey to strengthen her abilities and to assimilate allies for the war against Agrona. He is also finds that she (unknowingly) possesses the great Stone of Ancestors and tells her to use it for healing purposes only and to keep it hidden. She travels to Clearwater to get maps of Ralshur from their library. Nabrie is called by the royal family and they want to know her purpose for arriving in their city. The Chieftain offers companionship of his heir, Jerick, so he can travel the land to gain knowledge of a land he will rule someday. Though Jerick is a bit of jerk in the beginning but the not-so-timid-now Nabrie sets him in place. After which they get along the journey without killing each other. She travels to the dragon lake to make dragons in to allies. Nabrie manages to impress their ruler, Fireskin, with her courage and endurance but refuses to intervene. When his sister's spirit speaks through Nabrie, Fireskin finally agrees to help in case of a war against Agrona and he makes them promise their allegiance to him. Soon Nabrie decides to travel to the Rock Hollow to gain allegiance of the goblins and along the ways she comes across the mallocks, creatures of Agrona. She meditates like Dart taught her and gains some measure of control over elements and drowns the miserable creatures. The drain on her power exhausts her and they slowly move towards the Rock Hollow. On their way they are kidnapped by the Sister warriors and they want Nabrie to lead them to war against Agrona and wish to train her for the battle. Nabrie meets their leader, Master Peter, who is Sisters ambassador to the goblins and he is also her uncle. He tells her she is someone who can be temporary vessel for spirits so they can communicates with the living. She also realizes she has a cousin, Myra, who is a warrior and has offered to train her. At first Nabrie is very glad to find some living relatives but when the Master insistently asks her to call upon her mother's spirit she gets suspicious. She tells him she will do it if he would lead her to the goblins. He agrees to do so and Nabrie with a great show of leadership manages to earn goblins allegiance. With their help she runs away with Jerick before the Master can get his hands on her to find the Estuary of Mysteries. During her journey she comes to enjoy Jerick's companionship and value Darts wisdom. Nabrie keeps hearing scary voices in her head which scare her to no end. Finally they reach the great sea but when Nabrie goes in, it tries to consume her! Jerrick manages to drag her out in time and Dart wakes her up before she completely loses herself. She finds a water tube where she finds a trapped elderly man. Nabrie uses her powers to release the man and finds out he is the Fifth wizard of Ralshur, Iquedor, who was trapped by a jealous Fourth wizard of Ralshur for many decades. As they try to find the Estuary of mysteries they are attacked by a powerful goblin queen. They are different from the Rock Hollow goblins and leave Nabrie for a black witch while taking Jerrick with them. The witch Berisha beats up Nabrie as she wants to possess the great stone of ancestors. Meanwhile the goblin queen spells Jerrick so that he would murder the black witch. Dart, who is unable to help anyone of them calls on Daithi. Myra who was tracking Nabrie helps them find Nabrie and Jerrick. During the summoning spell that the witch wants Nabrie to cast so that Berisha gets the stone Nabrie manages to change the spell in a way that it becomes harmless. Nabrie is able to cure Berisha but unable to stop himself, Jerrick kills Berisha.
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Best part of story, including ending:
I really liked the world building in this book.
Best scene in story:
I really liked the scene where Nabrie reached the Great Sea and it tries to drown her. She recovers when Dart pecks her and she removes some of the blood from the small wound with sea water. The sea water suddenly turns blood red and storms until it forms in to a hurricane.
Opinion about the main character:
I really enjoyed the way Nabrie transforms from a timid girl into a leader in short span of time.
