The Tempered Trail: An Origin Story Set in the World of Veltak (The Bridges of Magic)

Six years before The Oracle's Bridge, fourteen-year-old Teela buries her mother alone in a forest under Barok Tana's shadow, with nothing left but a snapped blade, an empty salt tin, and three weeks of hard walking between her and the only trading town she's ever known.

Disguised as a boy to survive the road, she must outrun forest cats hunting, escape a Spellcaster who wants to return her to a life her mother fled with her from, and rebuild her life piece by piece in a house that isn't hers yet.

Step onto the trail and discover:

• A gritty survival story where finding salt, mending a roof, and setting a snare matter as much as outrunning dark magic.


• A dangerous, atmospheric world — cryptic fairies, deadly forest beasts, and the looming shadow of Barok Tana's regime.


• The making of a warrior — the transformation of a grieving girl into the survivor readers meet in The Oracle's Bridge.

This is not the story of the war to come. It's the story of the girl who survived long enough to fight in it. One journey, one choice, one unfinished house at a time.

The Tempered Trail is a standalone origin story set in the world of Veltak. Teela's story continues in The Oracle's Bridge, Book 1 of the Bridges of Magic series.