The Fire Beneath (The Runekeeper Chronicles)

The mountain is waking. And this time, power will not be enough.

Five weeks after the destruction of Dunross House, eleven-year-old Violet MacLeod is trying to understand what it means to be a Runekeeper. The seven ancient tokens have returned to their stones, Thor has been banished, and the ruined circle above Inverwick is being repaired.

Then one of the runes begins to glow red.

Beneath the wreckage of Dunross, Violet and her best friend Rosa uncover a hidden archive left by Lady Morven: secret maps, forgotten records and warnings about a place called Glen Torran. Far to the north, an ancient system of stone circles once allowed the people of the glen to borrow the mountain’s heat without waking the power buried beneath it.

Now that agreement is failing.

At the centre of the mystery is archaeologist Dr Rowan Calder, a brilliant scholar convinced that the old keepers misunderstood what they feared. As the earth begins to tremble, ash falls from a clear sky and fire moves through long-dead channels beneath the village, Violet discovers that the greatest danger may not be the power beneath the mountain—but the temptation to control it.

To save Glen Torran, Violet must learn the hardest lesson of being a Runekeeper: some things cannot be protected by holding them tighter.

The Fire Beneath is the second book in The Runekeeper Chronicles, a middle-grade fantasy series for readers aged 9–12, blending Scottish landscapes, ancient runes, Norse mythology, friendship, mystery and adventure.

Thomas T. Wedow is an author of fantasy and historical fiction whose stories blend folklore, hidden histories and adventure. Inspired by Britain's dramatic landscapes, ancient myths and forgotten moments in history, his novels explore the places where legend and reality meet. He is the author of The Runekeeper Chronicles and the historical novel The Printer's Apprentice. Thomas lives in Bath, England.