Reiffen's Choice (The Stoneways, #1)

Twelve-year old Reiffen is the true heir of the Kingdoms of Banking and Wayland. His entire life has been spent in exile in the small farm community of Valing, where he lives with his mother, the Princess Giserre, and his friends Ferris and Avender. Redburr, a shapeshifting bear, and Nolo, a dwarf from the Upside-Down city of Issinlough at the bottom of the Stoneways, have also spent much of the last dozen years in Valing helping protect Reiffen from his uncle King Brannis's attempts to rem...