Otto of the Silver Hand

The book centers around the life of Otto, the son of German warlord Baron Conrad. Otto's mother, Baroness Matilda, has died in premature labour, brought on by the sight of the Baron's battle wounds, prompting Conrad to take his newborn son to be raised in a nearby monastery. When Otto reaches the age of eleven his father returns to claim him from the gentle monks, taking him back to live in Castle Drachenhausen, ("Dragons' House," in German) the ancestral mountaintop fortress from which the Baron launches his attacks. Here Otto learns of and is horrified by his father's life as a robber baron.