Publisher's Synopsis
It is Midsummer's Eve, and the meerlings of Minderdale are preparing for their annual celebration. Extracts from their Legend will be read, and school-leavers will be received into the adult community. Moroc has been looking forward to it for ages. There is only one snag. Before he can come of age he has to undertake a Challenge to prove that he has the courage necessary to take his place in adult society, and Moroc has no courage at all. But far worse is to come. As Moroc sets out on his Challenge, events are taking place not far away which will change his life for ever. Centuries ago, landmen took over meerling country, stealing their homes and killing everyone they caught. Those who escaped survived only by hiding in a cave system deep under Minderdale, where their descendants still live today. The meerlings have stayed safe until now by keeping to darkness and water, where they are at home and the landmen are not. Now the landmen are back and they are very different from the ones the meerlings fled from long ago. Hiding is no longer good enough. With no time to lose, the colony's leaders come up with a desperate alternative, and Moroc suddenly has to find more courage than any meerling has needed for centuries.
