Like his father and all his fathers before him, Garth, the Lord High Wizard of Massina, Protector of the Realm and Defender of the Citadel, has sworn to defend the people and lands in his care. Like his father and all his fathers before him, Garth's wizardry works well and true. Other than the occasional harassment by barbarian raiders, his citizens live a peaceful and safe existence under his care, but that peace is about to be tested.
When word quickly spreads of a horrific monster that threatens every village in the realm, Garth takes action. He enlists and trains a troop of elite warriors, Guardians aided by spirit allies, to hunt down and destroy the monster. Evolyn, devoted daughter to the wizard's blacksmith, is one of the warriors chosen for this new battle. What begins as a straightforward mission thrusts the noble Evolyn and her Guardian cohorts into encounters with a magical sword, fratricide, covert alliances, prejudice, jealousy, betrayal, love, and confrontation with their own internal monsters.
Is this monster more that it seems? Is the magic of Garth's fathers worthy enough to protect his people from this new menace?
Hal Portner is a former K-12 teacher and administrator. He was assistant director of the Summer Math Program for High School Women and Their Teachers at Mount Holyoke College, and for 24 years he was a teacher and then administrator in two Connecticut public school districts. From 1985 to 1995, he was a member of the Connecticut State Department of Education s Bureau of Certification and Professional Development, where, among other responsibilities, he served as coordinator of the Connecticut Institute for Teaching and Learning and worked closely with school districts to develop and carry out professional development and teacher evaluation plans and programs. Hal developed and teaches for Western New England University a 3 credit MEd in Curriculum and Instruction online core course in Mentoring, Coaching, and professional development.Portner writes, develops materials, trains mentors, facilitates the development of new teacher and peer-mentoring programs, and consults for school districts and other educational organizations and institutions. In addition to "Mentoring New Teachers", he is the author of "Training Mentors Is Not Enough: Everything Else Schools and Districts Need to Do" (2001), "Being Mentored: A Guide for Proteges "(2002), "Workshops that Really Work: The ABCs of Designing and Delivering Sensational Presentations "(2005), and editor of "Teacher Mentoring and Induction: The State of the Art and Beyond "(2005) all published by Corwin Press. He holds an MEd from the University of Michigan and a 6th-year Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS) in education administration from the University of Connecticut. For three years, he was with the University of Massachusetts EdD Educational Leadership Program.
