ReviewThink Jean Auel and Judith Tarr...Campbell creates characters readers will care about. -- _Midwest Book Review_Product DescriptionNew trouble lies ahead for Darak and Griane, now the Memory-Keeper and Healer of their tribe. Keirith, the eldest of their three children, has been apprenticed to the Tree-Father but is dismissed when his master learns that he has been riding the spirits of other living creatures. Convinced that his parents will also view him as an abomination, Keirith flees, only to be captured by slavers. Carried to the heart of a distant civilization, Keirith must confront the truth about himself and his powers, even while Darak, following the kidnappers' trail, must struggle with his darkest fears if he is to have any hope of saving his son.

SUMMARY: Year after year, season after season, for as long as Darak's people could remember, the battle of the Oak and the Holly had taken place, bringing an end to Winter and the rebirth of Spring. But this year the battle went wrong as Darak's brother became possessed by the spirit of the Holly. To free him, Darak must undertake a quest to restore the very balance of nature.