Wren's Dragon

Wren's Dragon is a YA fantasy novel about a disabled young girl, bullied and outcast who is given the menial job of raising rats and mice to feed to the villages stable of dragons. She loves the dragons and when a rare black dragon with blue wings is born it is destined to be killed in a ritual. The births of blue dragons is thought to bring bad luck to whatever town harbors it. Wren steals the baby dragon and runs away with it, aided by her friend Kirby and her pet gargoyle Tick. Using a riddle taught to her from birth by her banished father, Wren uses the clues to find a hidden meadow where she finds journals and scrolls left from her father who stayed there after his banishment. In the meadow, Wren must fight and kill an 'Afflicted' and in reading the journals realizes it was her father she had killed. Kirby, meanwhile, has been banished from the village for helping Wren. He finds the meadow and the 2 of them hide out for the summer while Wren learns to ride her now huge dragon 'Cyan'. The four of them meet an Elvish emmisary who warns them of an uprising of Afflicted which is decimating the kingdom and a large horde is headed for Wren's village. Wren, Kirby, Tick and Cyan travel to the Elven city of Sylvan Dell where Wren learns that she is the main heroine in the Prophesy. Reluctantly, Wren agrees to muster aid from residents of the secret city of Grimthorn, long thought to be populated with those who have been banished for all manner of crimes. Wren finds the city a bustling positive place and convinces them to join the coming battle. The city of the Elves join the humans in fighting the monsters and will use magic to help win the day. Wren and Kirby leave on a quest to find a Fairy tear to complete the spell the Elves will use. Along the way, they are helped by a talking, very sarcastic wolf named Rab who saves Wrens life from the horrible Fairies. With the magic the Elves bring, and the assistance of the Grimthorn folk, the battle is hard won. Wren learns skills and courage she never thought she could possess, both with magic and with her own inner strength, and becomes a hero to her people.