Multiple-awarding-winning author Andre Norton explores the world of the Outer Regions, originated in the art of Karen Kuykendall, in the novels and . In , Andre Norton presents a novel of magic and adventure - the unforgettable story of a boy's journey of discovery, from trial to triumph. Hynkkel, commanded by his father to travel into the unknown in a test of survival, starts out with almost nothing but the red-gold sandcat pendent worn around his neck as a reminder of his slain cat. His trek will bring him to a cave where he will enter the secret world of the cat...to a trail that will mark his destiny. , we find the natural water sources of the five queendoms of the Outer Region drying up. Hynkkel, not fully recovered from his previous trials, must now find a way to stop this loss and recover the missing water. To do so he must first find out who, or what, is causing the water loss and where it is going. When he and Murri, his sandcat, set out on their journey they make another, even more startling discovery. A being of ancient evil has returned and has brought with it hordes and hordes of deadly desert rats, bent on one thing - to destroy the queendoms one by one. Can Hynkkel both find the missing water and stop the rats before all succumb to the Year of the Rat?