From the Ashes: Book I of the Phoenix Saga (Phoenix Saga, 1)

Born in a secluded village in the kingdom of Verdenta, ruled over by the iron fist of the Empire of the Phoenix and its cruel, domineering ruler, Empress Maeivra, the so-called 'Witch Queen' Diarmud never imagined he would experience anything out of the ordinary. But overnight, he finds himself caught up in a struggle to free the world from the tyranny of a sorceress in thrall to far greater and more terrible powers who watch the races of the world with hateful eyes . . . Hounded from his home by the Empress's agents, Diarmud finds himself to be the sole survivor of a secretive project to create a breed of warrior from a forgotten age of the world, a weapon meant for conquest, to be the first of Maeivra's new order. Accompanied by his guardian, the old bard Cameron, and his closest friend Tabitha, Diarmud must race across hostile territory to find those devoted to keeping him safe and their world free from the clutches of the mad queen and the entities she worships, and prepare for the struggle that is to come . . .