For generations, the Kingdom has stretched it’s reach farther into the valleys, forests and hills of the frontier. Taxes grow heavier. Winters hungrier. Soldiers march where farmers once walked. Villages vanish beneath decrees written by hands adorned with golden rings. Most endure, too many break. But a few choose to resist.
Elissa never intended to become one of them.
Raised in the quiet village of Crickethollow, she knows the language of herbs, healing and hard winters. Her world is measured in harvest, shared meals, and the unspoken promise that neighbors care for one another. But with the taxes rising and a strange man washing ashore on the Frogsong River Elissa is forced onto a road she never dreamed to travel.
Hunted by the King’s forces and pursued by enemies who see people as tools and villages as resources she’s tasked with bringing the stranger to the nearest town. But the natural world has other plans for the young healer. An ancient power stirs beneath the forest, and forgotten paths awaken beneath her feet. Elissa discovers a gift tied to the Wild itself and the old magics. A force woven into each and every animal of the world.
To save those she loves, Elissa must decide what kind of woman she will become. A healer or a fighter. A survivor or a leader. Whether hope is worth carrying when every mile stretches longer and longer.
Set in a world of ancient forests, distant mountains Wild Gods, and ordinary people standing against the impossible odds, this is a story of courage, sacrifice, found family, love and the enduring belief that kindness remains an act of defiance in dark times.
Where kingdoms are built by power. The future belongs to those who refuse to face winter alone.
