Garden of the Purple Dragon
Carole Wilkinson
 Chapter 1: Black Dragon Pool Ping is living on the top of Tai Shan mountain trying to raise Kai, the stinking baby dragon. Chapter 2: A Bowl, A Bucket and A Ladle Ping learns that Kai can learn to shape-change and turns into firstly a soup ladle. They are living happily until one day, their goat is found with its throat slit. Hua is also found to be back on a red phoenix's back. Ping and Kai flee but they run into the necromancer. After Hua uses his newfound powers to hold off the necromancer while Ping and Kai escape. Ping, Kai and Hua are later captured by guards and taken to Liu Che, Emperor of China, and Ping's 'friend' who drops all charges against them. Ping stays in the palace and meets Princess Yangxin and the two become friends, and the Princess begins to teach Ping how to read and write, since she is unable to do so already. Ping eventually convinces the Emperor to search for any other Dragon Keepers, she hopes to find her family. She, Kai and Dong Fang Suo (Fatso as Kai had begun to call him) go to a village in search of the next Dragon Keeper. But they do not find Ping's family, instead Jun is taken to be instructed as a Dragonkeeper, Ping becomes jealous when Kai seems to prefer Jun over her. Dong Fang Suo attempts to kill by Liu Che's orders Ping but she survives and returns to the palace for Kai. However the Necromancer is there, bleeding Kai. They duel and Ping, without Kai, escapes to warn the Emperor who reveals he is in league with the Necromancer. She is stripped of her position as Imperial Dragonkeeper and taken off to be sacrificed. During the sacrifice, Dong Fang Suo (who later says it was the Emperor who told him to kill Ping), Jun, Hua and Kai come to her aid and they defeat the necromancer though Dong Fang Suo is sadly killed. While Jun takes his body away, Ping and Kai (Ping had let Hua go free with other rats) escape with Princess Yangxin, with the final destination of the Kunlun Mountains in sight. But Princess Yangxin asks them to come to the Duke's with her, and the two agree. Kai is nearly two by now. Ping is actually the dragon keeper and Jun is a fake.