Synopses & Reviews
"You need claws, lady, for confidence." So advises Miraow Billay Dictu, the haughty cat who once belonged to a priest. But both claws and confidence are sadly lacking in Keina, the young daughter of Aine from Adair. Keina's grandfather Thane Stigan of Tampton is at Dunmore, advising his foster son now King Theodric. Keina's father Eadric has gone over the sea rift, seeking adventures. Keina's Aunt Floddy treats her and her mother like servants because they are Gaethels and can talk to animals. When Flournoy knights attack and burn Tamton, Keina hides in a little forest hut with the cat, a chicken, a rabbit, and a goat, waiting for someone to rescue her.Gabran, on the other hand, charges into action that can make him a warrior. He does not know who his father is, only that he is a coward who has been named traitor. When Gabran finds Keina, she thinks he is a swaggering, hot-headed bully, but he is her only chance to flee from the Flournoys and together they arrive in a camp of King Theodric's soldiers.In Book II of The War of the Noses, the kingdom of Innis Aelga is invaded by a faction of Cogniere who challenge the Weorcman dynasty. Keina and Gabran survive by their wits and the help of a bear, an herbalist, a wizard, and an enclave of naturalists who are feared as witches. Separately, they find safety in the luxurious house of a Cogniere knight and the smelly cottage of a churchman who experiments with forbidden knowledge. Keina becomes lady-in-waiting to the king's mother Adelaide but leaves the safe convent to join her grandfather Stigan. Despite a crippled arm, Gabran joins his sergeant to fight off the Flournoy pretender. When the Worcmen lose the battle of Medford, the only safetyfor the two young people seems to lie at the end of a long journey back to Adair in the lands of the Gaethels.