The forest is dying. And nobody wants to talk about it.

Ash is the smallest wolf in her clan — quick, quiet, and ignored by almost everyone except her grandfather Greyfang, the most respected elder in the Great Forest. When the ancient keeper of the Heartwood dies and every clan begins fighting over who should replace him, Ash notices something the others are too busy arguing to see: the trees in the north are going silent. One by one. Moving south.

The animals call it the Pale.

As Greyfang is framed for a crime he didn't commit and the forest's politics spiral toward chaos, Ash uncovers a secret buried for a hundred years — a bargain made by an eagle who chose exile over war, and a debt the forest has been slowly paying ever since.

The only hope lies in the High Peaks, where the last of the Eagle line has been watching the forest fail from a distance. But finding her is only the beginning. Because what the forest needs cannot be taken or demanded or argued into existence.

It has to be freely given.

Ashwood is the first book in The Rootdeep Chronicles — an epic middle grade fantasy trilogy about power, loyalty, and the kind of courage that doesn't make any noise.

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