The Thrall and the Dragon's Heart

Brak just wanted to help Ingvold, the elfin girl who was cursed by the witch-queen Hjordis to act as a hag. He never expected his efforts to lead him through a strange gate to the world of the Alfar, where the dark elves were fighting to destroy all the light elves. As a humble thrall, he had no business there. But he was trapped. Ingvold had given him the dragon's heart, the only hope the light elves had to summon aid from the Rhybus. He could not let that fall into the hands of Hjordis or Myrkjartan, the dreadful necromancer who was mustering armies of the dead against all that was good in the world. Betrayed by the wiles of the wizard Skalgr, Brak struggled to master the magic of the dragon's heart and recover the weapons of power that would, perhaps, bring victory to Ingvold and her people. It was too much, even for a hero. And Brak was no hero!

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.