There are still a few tweaks to make but this looks likely to be close to the final design. I like the mystery of the metal bees and acorns, and think it looks interestingly enigmatic.Publication from Hodder Children's in May 2010 - here's a snippet from the book;-
Stop now. To go further is dangerous.
The circle is the oldest magic
If you enter it it will enfold you
...My disease erupted in pools and quagmires; it ran in the rivers like fever. I was the land and it was a winter world. Disease comes in many forms. It can be mania. A man can spread it even to his friends.
One day demons came out of the oakwoods to torment me. They grunted and snuffled. They had great snouts and their bodies were pale as fungi.
At night they lay down around me, earthpigs and boars and beasts of legend. And I began to see how they roamed deep into the heartwood of a remote valley, and always when they came back the scabs of their pocked skin had cleared...
I followed them.
For dark days I crawled like a beast down and down into the marshy valley.
Steam rose around me. Tiny insects whined and bit me.
I put my paw and snout to the ground and splashed in water that was hot.
I crawled inside the circle of its comfort
