The Dragon's Pawn

Back in high school Scott, Paul, Chris and Luke made two pacts: to stay friends forever and to play Warriors and Thieves as often as possible. Twenty-four years later neither pact remains. Each man has gone his own way. Only Chris still plays the game, and he is dying of cancer. Will his friends reunite for one last game? The way they always dreamed of playing? As they come together, they realize Chris stumbled upon a way for them to enter their fantasy world of Canaanshade and play the game for real...as their characters of old. There's a catch: they must return to 1989 and the bodies of their middle and high school selves first. Otherwise, any damage they receive in the game will be upon them as well. What could it hurt? Little do they know, a dark secret from their past is haunting them, threatening not only their game but their very lives. As the four boys enter Canaanshade and the bodies of their favorite role-playing characters, a strange thing happens. Each begins to slowly slip into oblivion and fade into his player's consciousness. Will they realize it in time? And if so, can they do anything to stop the process? One of them has sold his friends out to the red and black dragon. Will the others discover the identity of dragon's pawn before it is too late? Getting into the game was the dream of a lifetime; getting out was the nightmare no one ever expected.