This book is the first in a series of planned synthesis volumes from sites funded by the National Science Foundation's Long-term Ecological Research Program. This volume focuses on over 15 years of research at the Konza Prairie in NE Kansas and provides a unique perspective on the structural and functional ecology of a grassland ecosystem that once covered most of central North America.

Daniel and Aidan have spent their lives apart from the rest of the kingdom of Castiglias and its subjects. For the last three years, they have been left with only each other for company since King Argyle's men came and took their parents to be slaves. The boys' survival has been dependent on the lessons learned from their parents, as well as their own unique powers. When Argyle's men come to take Daniel, Aidan uses his little-known gift to fight off the gathering party. He does so with only two goals in mind: to save his older brother from a lifetime of serving Argyle, and then escape together. Fleeing the only home they have ever known, they must avoid Argyle's men, werewolves, and a fire-breathing dragon looking for an easy meal. What begins as a fight to save one boy and then disappear unexpectedly turns into a battle against the evil forces of Argyle, a war that may affect the lives of not only the many children waiting to be taken, but the existence of the kingdom itself.

Argyle has taken control of Castiglias, forced many of its citizens into slavery, and cast the others out into the wild. AND he's destroyed the Scepter of Harmony, a key to the prosperity of the kingdom. Daniel now holds the stoneless Scepter as his bitter reward for saving the fairy settlement. What would happen if the stones were gathered and the Scepter reassembled? Daniel, Aidan, Olivia, and Lilly set out to locate and take back the Emerald of Phaunos, one of the four gems that gave the Scepter its power. King Argyle's army of diegylis, a half man/half werewolf beast, will stop at nothing to catch the four rebels. The tree people in the Acheron forest now possess the emerald. It will take all the strength and determination the young band can rally to recover the stolen emerald. But can they do it before the diegylis destroy them?