In a wolrd of dragons, song-spells, pipers and battles...

Patch Bridgewater is a boy in disgrace. Thrown in jail for playing a forbidden spell, he is no one's idea of a hero. But then he discovers a deadly truth - the evil piper of Hamleyn is on the loose. 

With the help of Wren, a girl cursed to live as a rat, and Barver, a fire-breathing dracogriff, Patch must stop the piper sparking the biggest battle of them all.