Extraordinary events transform the life of Sparrow after an encounter on the mountain with the wizard Puckel, who gives the boy three magical gifts: the ability to fly, to understand the speech of birds and beasts, and to take the shape of any creature or thing. Now Sparrow needs all the magical help he can get, for he and his friends Bull and Goggs, Kittel, Ormand and Lissie find themselves up against many elusive, cunning adversaries - including the Polymorphs - as they seek to free their world from the power of the dragon.

 

There are 544 pages in this book. This book was published 2003 by Walker Books Ltd .

Charles Ashton is the author of the Dragon Fire trilogy, Jet Smoke and Dragon Fire (shortlisted for both the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the WH Smith Mind Boggling Books Award), Into the Spiral and The Shining Bridge, as well as the novel Billy's Drift, and, for younger readers, The Giant's Boot (shortlisted for the Smarties Book Prize), The Boy Who Was a Bear and The Snow Door.