Dragon Horse
"The sleeping dragon awakes!"
Aeons ago, winged dragons spread terror across the Chinese empire. Their descendants, magnificent horses bred and ridden by the Wild Horsemen, are known as dragon horses.
Rokshan has never seen a dragon horse; but when the old storyteller, Shou-Lao, arrives in Maracanda with a terrible warning about an ancient evil now building in strength and purpose, he also brings a special message for Rokshan.
Now Rokshan must travel to the Valleys of the Horsemen - and on to the Plain of the Dead where the great stallion Stargazer, lord of the horses, is waiting for him...
While his brother, An Lushan, chooses a different path entirely...
And their friend, Lianxang, spellweaver-to-be of the secretive Darhad tribe in the remote north of the empire, is also drawn into the coming conflict...
Rich, vibrant and full of the myths and flavours of old Imperial China, Dragon Horse will take you from the colourful world of a caravan master on the greatest trading route in the ancient world, the Silk Road, up into the valleys of the Horsemen and down beneath the Jade Mountain to the shadowy world of the dead.
Above all, this fantasy tale will introduce you to the glory of the dragon horses.
And to the majesty of Oriental dragons...
Peter Ward
Peter Ward was born in 1958 and grew up in different places all over the Far East, England and Germany. He has had a peripatetic career: before graduating from Leeds University with a degree in English, he earned his living as a swimming-pool attendant, hod carrier, joiner's mate, canteen assistant on a North Sea oil-rig, plumber's merchant store-picker in the US, van-driver, painter and decorator, antiques dealer and sales room assistant at Sotheby's in Bond Street. After graduating he worked in the media and communications industry and in the property services. He is now self-employed. He lives with his wife, daughter and two sons in Putney, south-west London. Dragon Horse is his first novel.