Michael A. Stackpole — When Dragons Rage

Bantam Books 2003 Paperback 658 As her merciless armies sweep from the north, the tyrant Chytrine pursues her quest to become empress of the world in a brutal campaign of unspeakable bloodshed and unholy sorcery. While cities and kingdoms topple, her agents, both living and dead, search for fragments of the shattered DragonCrown--which, when reassembled, will make her unstoppable. Opposing Chytrine is the beautiful and determined Alexia, Princess of Okrannel. As she struggles to save the life of Kedyn’s Crow, a mysterious human warrior accused of treachery, she gathers around her an alliance of unlikely heroes, including Resolute, an exiled Vorquelf out for vengeance; Kerrigan Reese, a mage with uncertain potential; and last but not least, young Will, an orphan thief from the slums of Yslin, who may be the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy--or its innocent victim. Good