In most ways, Robert is a typical sixteen year old boy growing up in the small village medieval village of Masden. He attends school, goes fishing with friends, and increasingly, has been learning his father's trade as stable master. As the story begins though, he's frustrated because his father seems to demand so much more from him than his friends' fathers want from their sons. He studies longer and reads more than anyone else. Strangest of all, his father has been teaching him to read, write, and speak in the old tongue, the forbidden language spoken by the nobility. Late one night, his life is turned upside down. He's awakened by loud pounding on the door and is stunned when he pokes his head over the railing of the loft, to see armed soldiers in chain mail pouring into the living room. Suddenly, his father leaps out with his own sword, turning the house into a battle zone. After his father is killed, Robert and his mother flee for their lives. Later, she takes out an old wooden box, opens it, and hands him a heavy ruby ring. "This belonged to your father. Now, I suppose it's yours." Mixing magic, swordplay, and adventure, The Ruby Ring - Casting The Die is the first in a series that follows Robert's search for his true identity.