Joachim's Magic

Thirteen-year-old Reis Courtney, from Surrey, is apprenticed to one Dougham Gaunse, also known as Joachim Gans, famed metallurgist of Queen Elizabeth I and the first recorded Jew in the New World. Joachim and others travel to the Virginia lands in 1585, to search for gold, silver and most valuable of all, copper, to fashion the armaments for England’s war against Spain. This special expedition, under the leadership of Ralph Lane and supported by Sir Walter Raleigh, is fraught with danger, from the native Indians who lurk in the woodlands to the hatred which the German miners harbor as they work alongside Joachim.

Reis finds his master taciturn and mysterious. He chants in Hebrew and antagonizes all except Thomas Hariot and Ralph Lane. Trouble occurs when the great Indian Chief, Pemisapan, formerly known as Wingina, turns against them. What happens when Pemisapan captures them, holding them hostage and threatening their lives? What “magic” can Joachim perform to save them all? Faced with the choice of giving in to Pemisapan, or sacrificing his apprentice, Joachim must make one of the hardest decisions of his life. Upon him rests the fate of the entire 1585 expedition and the life of one small boy.

A prequel to the Lyon Saga series about the 1587 Lost Colony of Roanoke Island.