At the dawn of his life, a sickly baby named Sam Armstrong received a gift from his grandfather: a life for a life. But this exchange was not wrought without conditions. Eighteen years later, when Sam's concerns involve making the difficult leap from boyhood to manhood, winning the heart of the girl he loves, and learning to stand up for himself, the price for the gift he received in his infancy must be paid, and the calling that was once his grandfather's falls to him. In this first volume of a historical fantasy trilogy, Sam's curiosity about his late grandfather's shrouded past leads him into the path of mortal danger. Beset on all sides by the forces of a dark conspiracy, Sam's quest to uncover the story of his ancestry becomes a journey to discover the power within himself in order to preserve the freedom of his people and save all that he loves. He must make new friends, renew age-old alliances, and come to trust the guidance granted to him together with the calling, which is all that will sustain him as he carries the fate of all the free people of the world on his young shoulders. Read an excerpt of The Calling (PDF)