Winterflight

the long version

Alecia Auberon is a sheltered princess of a minor realm when a vast army under the command of the dread Empress of Ardunir lays siege to the capital city. The Empress delivers an inexplicable ultimatum: hand over the Princess Alecia, or the city will be utterly destroyed. The Lord of the Highlands is forced to make an agonizing choice. Will he sacrifice his city and his people, or will he hand over his only daughter and the heir to his throne? Thus begins an epic fantasy which chronicles a desperate flight through dark caverns, perilous forests, outlaw cities, dismal swamps, and snowbound mountains as a trio of fugitives flees the wrath of a mad queen and seeks to thwart the terrifying threat of an invasion of demonic creatures not seen since the beginning of days. Will innocent Alecia find the strength of will to survive and overcome the shocking truth about her past? Or will she be swept away by the unfathomable darkness that threatens to consume the world?