A Princess of Last Resort (The Blackstaff Siblings)

SYNOPSIS: Lifting the ancient orc curse and destroying the Arcane Syphons should have brought peace to Panos. But one generation later, a new force brings destruction from the skies. With the northern elf lands ablaze, Sarah and Granite flee for their lives. Together the children of Parsnip must find new allies, reunite with their family, and discover why shadowy new factions have taken a personal interest in them.DETAILS: Sarah, a half elf mage attending the Arcane University and very distant heir to the throne of Civilia, thought that this was going to be a nice walk in the woods. She had dragged off her older half brother Granite, a half orc journeyman ranger, so that he could help her to collect some material components for the new school year.Neither of the Blackstaff siblings expected their little trip to be interrupted by fire raining down from the sky. And they certainly had no clue that a ragtag mercenary army would use this natural disaster as an opportunity to invade the sovereignty of the northern elves.On the run, Sarah and Granite decide to head towards one of the emergency sanctuaries set up by the elven mages of Civilia. But the siblings find out that the magical portal is both guarded and unstable. With more devastation raining down all around them, sister and brother have no choice but to break through the mercenary squad's defenses and make a leap of faith into the flickering portal.Sarah finds herself far from home, in cold and snowy foothills. Neither she nor her brother were prepared for the harsh elements. Nor were they prepared for the mercenary army's dogged pursuit.Now the clever young mage and her fiercely loyal brother not only have to survive, but they also need to find new allies that can help answer the questions that haunt them: Are their parents still alive? Why can nobody reach the elven royal family? Was the firestorm a natural event, or something far more sinister? Finally, who are these invaders, and what do they want with the Blackstaff siblings?