The Enchanted Castle Archives Series

THE ENCHANTED CASTLE ARCHIVES   The enchanted castle lies somewhere in the enchanted forest, which touches all kingdoms. At one time or another. There's no predicting when the portal into the forest will open. Getting in is difficult. Getting out is even harder. The castle moves about in the forest, needing an anchor. And a princess. The forest moves from kingdom to kingdom. Until two wanderers stumble inside, and meet in their separate quests to break curses and find answers.     LIARS' QUEST   An orphan servant, Ash successfully masqueraded as a boy until she was nearly 15 -- then a spoiled brat nobleman's daughter accused her of assault.   A quixotic justiciar got involved, and with both girls revealed as liars, sentenced them to a quest. Ostensibly, the one who succeeded in accomplishing the list of deeds would be proven the innocent, injured party.   Ash fled to avoid being captured by the spoiled brat's servants and forced to do all the quest work for both of them. Along the way, she stumbled in and out of trouble and learned a great deal of magic -- including the magic born into her blood.   Her traveling companions: Fang the bunny, who complicated things when he was only partially turned into a vampire, and a spirit ring, to allow the justiciar to spy on her adventures. When the ring decided to become Ash's friend, then things got interesting.

Ash was warned, and she tried to be careful, but with the Purple Sky magicians hunting her to carry out Lathia's vendetta, there were only so many options open to her. The magic awakening in her blood and breaking free of the binding spells of her enemies made her even more vulnerable to trouble. And attractive to new allies and new enemies.   When she rode through the wrong magical doorway and found herself in the enchanted forest, Ash knew she needed to find her way out as quickly as possible. The enchanted castle, however, had other ideas. It needed a princess, and clever, resourceful, magical Ash was just what it had been waiting for. She refused to be a princess, but the castle apparently wasn't listening.   As she gained new allies and discovered just what clever traps awaited her, Ash settled in for a battle of wills that might occupy her for the rest of her life. Was it any wonder that when her only freedom lay in being beastly, she dove into the magic and the mask … and maybe enjoyed it just a little too much?

Zair was thirteen when he was kidnapped and trained to be a Shadow -- to stand in for Crown Prince Anwir in dangerous situations. Magicians broke the rules of magic when they wove illusion spells around him, so he would walk and talk and sound and look like Anwir, The two boys were meant to be friends, companions, perhaps the only true friend either one would ever have.   Magic in the kingdom of Dorwain was broken, the old ways purged, forgotten, or warped. The magicians made mistakes. Some fatal. However, when they used the dust of a shattered magic mirror as the base of their spells, that proved to be Zair's only hope for survival and escape.   Despite the destruction of her physical body, Viza the magic mirror was alive in her dust. Zair could hear her, proving the strength of his sleeping, inborn magic. She became his friend and teacher. Together, they sought a way to escape. The magic awakening in Zair proved he had royal blood, with a claim to the throne. That made him a threat to the current king. He needed to break the growing web of spells that imprisoned him, and reclaim his own face before time ran out.  

Life in the enchanted castle, in the center of the enchanted forest, had its benefits and its drawbacks. Emphasis on drawbacks, with 'Na's problematic 17th birthday approaching. Thanks to her parents' reputation for breaking enchantments and solving magical problems, they had numerous enemies. Chances were good some of them had set numerous curses to take effect on her birthday. The best way to avoid trouble was to stay home, alone, and keep the doors locked. Then clumsy Prince Ruprick and his assistant/bodyguard/troubleshooter Ambrose showed up. The prince didn't know how to take no for an answer. His father had failed at winning the Beastly Beauty for his bride, so now it was up to him to win the daughter.   Plus, Fang, the half-vampire bunny, had showed up in a bad mood.   What else could go wrong?