“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood. The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her. But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose


「不管山谷外的人怎麼謠傳，『我們的龍』從來不會吃掉他抓走的少女。但這種傳言有時會在來往的旅人口中聽到，說得好像我們用活人獻祭，好像他真的是龍一樣。這些都不是真的。他或許是巫師或長生不死之軀，但他仍是人類，若每隔十年，都要吃掉一位少女，我們的父親必會團結起來置他於死地。雖然他保護山谷免受烏德侵害，我們感激在心，但仍心存怨懟。」安格妮絲塔深愛她的山谷家園，那裡有靜謐的村落、森林、和和映著陽光閃閃發亮的河流。但山谷的邊界佇立著腐敗、充滿邪惡力量的烏德，讓她的生活罩上一層陰影。山谷的人民全仗這位冷漠、執著的巫師，抵擋烏德的勢力，但代價甚高，每十年要獻上一位少女來服侍他，此般宿命和落入烏德手中相同。眼看獻上少女的時間一步步逼近，安格妮絲塔甚是恐懼。她和谷中每個人都知道，這次巫師會帶走卡西亞。卡西亞嬌豔卻勇敢，這些特質安格妮絲塔根本比不上，卡西亞也是安格妮絲塔在這世上最要好的朋友，但想救她簡直難如登天，然而安格妮絲塔擔心的卻沒有發生，巫師降臨時選的不會是卡西亞。