For centuries, the mountainers isolated themselves from the rest of the world. While other kingdoms perfected their use of dragons as weapons of war, the mountainers were left with the dregs. The runts, the small, the weak. The little dragons.

A conductor named Vitali has been tasked with bringing a shipment of these little dragons down from the mountains. Having seen the inventions of the mountainers -- such as steam engines -- which the little dragons power, the outer world is willing to pay a dear price for the descendants of the dragons they once discarded.

But not all mountainers are on board with this scheme. Just when Vitali thinks he's passed the worst of the danger, a crew of would-be pirates alights on his locomotive.

A high-stakes fantasy adventure about ingenuity, exploitation, and underestimated power, this story pits steam and steel against teeth and flame. As Vitali races downhill with a cargo the world once deemed worthless, he discovers that the smallest dragons, like the people who raised them, may be far more dangerous than anyone expects. Fast-paced, inventive, and brimming with tension, this tale will delight readers who love dragons with a twist, industrial fantasy, and stories where discarded things refuse to stay small.