Introduction

I am coming from behind me and I am going ahead''

A dog can lead you into the corners of some stories better than any human can.

This is a story like that.

In the vast Tibetan plateau, where beauty and cruelty fall as day and night, Deki, a Tibetan mastiff, is born with a moon on her black chest. This is the tale of the dog and her friends, Tashi, Karma, and Changku the wolf. Of how she meets a runaway boy, and of their journey guarding a precious statue, with a vicious bandit at their heels, towards the celestial city of Shambhala. But do they find it?

Deki''s story moves with clouds, wild winds and the seasons. It carries the scent of blooming poppies and scurrying pikas, and of friends who leave without saying goodbye. Angry yaks and innocent sheep, fearsome bears and majestic snow leopards walk in and out of its words into caves where wise hermits teach the whys and hows of what everyone in the world wants to know.

Finally, Deki faces the choice before every living creature: a life of comfort within someone else''s walls, or freedom - fragile and dangerous, but her own to risk.

Follow Deki into an adventure without end.