Cup, Sword, and Stone

The summer before college should be a time to relax and enjoy freedom. But, when Dara's father turns to the secret science of alchemy in order to develop a revolutionary renewable power source, disaster threatens their quiet rural community. His power conduits reach into mystic underground realms, stealing light and energy from Faerie, home of the elves. He releases ravenous shadow-creatures from an even deeper land. When he uses the stolen cup of the goddess Ceridwen to deal with the waste products his process creates, he poisons the land of the elves. Electricity behaves strangely. Earthquakes are rampant. Hungry shadow-creatures prowl the earth. The queen of the elves, is furious but helpless. She cannot challenge the alchemist or slow his destruction of her land. Through a dream, she urges Dara to stop her father. When the alchemist is trapped in the conduit he opens, Dara and her friends must find a way to undo the damage and rescue him. After running a family sheep farm for thirty years, Cathy Hird now lives in the woods on the shores of Georgian Bay, the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway. She retired from work as a United Church minister in December 2020 and now has more time to write. Cathy weaves tapestries and scarves, and she tells stories that draw together the threads of modern questions and ancient myth.Cathy has published novels, stories and poems. She writes a weekly spirituality column for the online news magazine, owensoundhub.org. She is an avid reader who loves to discover new authors and the worlds they build.Cathy's first YA series was set in ancient Greece. Her second is a contemporary fantasy trilogy that draws on Celtic mythology and Arthurian legends. She is working on a near future novel where magic and artificial intelligence collide. A contemporary fantasy series drawing on Celtic mythology and Arthurian legends.

When Dara frees an elf to return the goddess Ceridwen's stolen cup, balance and peace should return. Instead, the restoration unleashes a storm of revenge. Having brooded over the loss of her cup, Ceridwen plans to punish the to gods who aided the thief. As a result, when Dara heads for Scotland to find her mother, an elf of the clan bound to Ceridwen, she and her friends step into a whirlwind of strife.Because Dara and her friends know who is behind the disastrous storms and what triggered the goddess' anger, an elven queen recruits them to locate the Triad of protectors ho hold the shards of Excalibur, carrying King Arthur's legacy into their day. But the Triad is hidden, and its leaders divided. Can the young Canadians reunited those who carry Arthur's legacy and find a way to hold back the storms? After running a family sheep farm for thirty years, Cathy Hird now lives in the woods on the shores of Georgian Bay, the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway. She retired from work as a United Church minister in December 2020 and now has more time to write. Cathy weaves tapestries and scarves, and she tells stories that draw together the threads of modern questions and ancient myth.Cathy has published novels, stories and poems. She writes a weekly spirituality column for the online news magazine, owensoundhub.org. She is an avid reader who loves to discover new authors and the worlds they build.Cathy's first YA series was set in ancient Greece. Her second is a contemporary fantasy trilogy that draws on Celtic mythology and Arthurian legends. She is working on a near future novel where magic and artificial intelligence collide. A contemporary fantasy series drawing on Celtic mythology and Arthurian legends.

A blast of revenge can destroy all in its path. When vengeance is sought by a goddess, it can engulf the world. This is the threat that Dara and her friends confront when the ancient home of the goddess of winter is destroyed. She will bring snow, ice, and lethal winds to Scotland in August.Only an elven queen foresaw this danger. Only this elf imagined a way to placate the goddess' anger: return to her the Grail, a seeing stone stolen from her by Merlin in the days of King Arthur.Just before King Arthur's tragic last battle, Merlin passed the Grail to the harper Taliesin who accompanied Lancelot to France to defend Brittany against invading Goths. Taliesin and Lancelot's story, the tale of the aid the Grail gave and the story of its hiding, is told alongside the modern quest to retrieve the stone.Dara and her friends take on the quest to locate the grail, a task many have failed to achieve. Travelling to France, they land in the middle of ancient conflicts that threaten their quest at every step. As winter draws closer in Britain, snow traps hikers and the natural cycle of summer is threatened, the four friends race to retrace Taliesin's steps and to find the Grail. After running a family sheep farm for thirty years, Cathy Hird now lives in the woods on the shores of Georgian Bay, the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway. She retired from work as a United Church minister in December 2020 and now has more time to write. Cathy weaves tapestries and scarves, and she tells stories that draw together the threads of modern questions and ancient myth.Cathy has published novels, stories and poems. She writes a weekly spirituality column for the online news magazine, owensoundhub.org. She is an avid reader who loves to discover new authors and the worlds they build.Cathy's first YA series was set in ancient Greece. Her second is a contemporary fantasy trilogy that draws on Celtic mythology and Arthurian legends. She is working on a near future novel where magic and artificial intelligence collide. A contemporary fantasy series drawing on Celtic mythology and Arthurian legends.