Red Ridge

Book excerpt: Set in the year 2225. For Torrin of Red Ridge, the journey to leadership and manhood begins at age 25. No longer will he be a watcher on the lookout ridge, seraching the warning beacons for signs of war. He will learn the secrets hidden deep within his mountain home of Monte Cristo. Secrets even his own mother has held from him. But his best friend Sherman will be there for him, just as he always has. Torrin's journey begins east, to the very fringes of his own wilderness. Deep in a northwest forest, an ancient world is revealed to the young leader - a world of power and strength in the form of a man. What he learns from his father, however, he can share with no others. No one must know of the forest dwellers. Friendships are rekindled as five young adults revisit their past. A past of childhood pranks, and laughter, hard work and training. They seek answers of the America they read about, and the Oil Wars that changed everything. Youth may have grown to adulthood, but a bond of courage has formed that will remain unbreakable. The great Dome in the mountains has also begun a journey. For 200 years it lay silent and menacing, well protected by the Red Ridge people. But silent it will be no more. Its slow rise from the earth has shattered the quiet, well-blended community. Peace and laughter has reigned for more than a hundred years in the Robe Valley. But the thunder of evil looms on the horizon. The forgotten Dome in the Cascade Mountains has been remembered once again. Red Ridge must transform themselves from mountain people to hardened warriors.