Alamanda

It begins with a simple act of sympathy.

Drin is a man who likes to do things in his own way. He has journeyed far from home over a high mountain range to trade his goods in the city of Banjut. Because everything is for sale there – in fact, even more than Drin realises. So when he accidentally stumbles into the slave market, he is shocked. And when he finds a girl being sold to the highest bidder, he is so appalled that he resolves to save her.

Except that Saori is no ordinary girl.

Without meaning to, Drin sets off a chain of events which determine the fate of Banjut and all the world around it. He and Saori are relentlessly pursued by the forces of a brutal conqueror determined to capture her and by a sinister and cruel spymaster. They are at constant risk of betrayal by those who claim to be helping them. Nowhere is safe. They have to rely on their own instincts and on each other to keep their enemies at bay – and on the courage of a boy, Chaemon, who joins them and tells their tale.