Wikipedia
Dragonkeeper is a children's fantasy novel by Australian author Carole Wilkinson. It is the first book of the Dragonkeeper trilogy. The second book is Garden of the Purple Dragon, first published in 2005, and the third Dragon Moon, first published in 2007. There is also a prequel to the original Dragonkeeper novel called Dragon Dawn. Dragonkeeper won several Australian awards, including the 2003 Aurealis Award for best young-adult novel.
The novel is set in ancient China, during the Han Dynasty. A slave girl saves the life of an aging dragon and escapes her brutal master. Pursued by a ruthless dragon hunter, the girl and the dragon make an epic journey across China carrying a mysterious stone that must be protected. This is a story of a young slave girl who believes she is not worthy of a name but finds within herself that the strength and courage to make this perilous journey, and do what must be done.