Young Alonin, the Lord Caladon of the title, is under a curse: each lord of his family is going to be killed by the dragon Thudredid, and Alonin finds out the reason at long last. There was a jewel, the Dylcaer, stolen from said dragon's hoard, in the great-great-grandsire's time, and since the jewel was forged by an evil wizard with evil intent, its evil is invoked to unleash this curse.

Alonin begins his quest to kill the dragon, only to find out that until he has a son the dragon will not engage him. So he finds the local wizard, Mernon, who bequeaths him a protective talisman, tells him of the cursed jewel, and sends him on his way. Alonin finds a traveling companion, Dalkin, and the two set off to find the jewel. There are inns, and gypsies, and snow, and pirates, and finally an evil sorceress who imprisons the two men, and she is the keeper of said jewel. Their adventures are still not over even with the jewel, and the story comes to a nice resolution.

All that said, the only character with any development is Alonin; the rest are definitely supports who have no story of their own. And sometimes Alonin's inherent naivete is a pain to deal with. But it's an easy read, and a good YA novel, and it will stay on my shelves. ( )