SOLVED. Old fantasy novel - magical forest animals won't go into, two children living there, wise man, quest - at the end, the boy and girl have to get married to save the world. SPOILERS ahead... [s]

[Lari]

My fiance has been trying to find this book that he read in the early 90s. He read it as a kid but isn't sure it was a kids/YA book, and thinks it was old when he read it. I really want to find it for him as a wedding present, since he's been trying to find it for a decade or so with no luck.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Here's what he remembers:
title
one word title
~ 3 syllables
may start with an S
proper noun, made up word

cover
hardback, solid color (maybe green)
celtic-ish colored emblem/medalion embroidered or fake embroidered on the cover
the medalion is important in the book

prologue
ambiguous - explained/revealed later in the book
someone talking to a demon?
starts in a mystical, magical forest
forest has a barrier of magic around it
animals are repelled from it, humans think it’s haunted
4 people live in it
brother and sister (young - teen?)
wise man
strong man - blacksmith-ish
every day, brother and sister go to wise man and ask 1 (maybe 3) questions, wise man answers
animals may talk in the forest
prince or noble being chased on horseback, horse shies away from forest, he falls off, the pursuers run away, he’s left unconscious
the forest inhabitants drag him into the forest
they heal him, he tells his story
the two young people decide to go with him on his quest when he continues it - stipulation - when they leave, they will forget everything except the fact they’re on a quest
the three of them go out of the forest
they go to a mountain (to get something? an artifact? herb? egg?) attacked by giant bird
boy and girl get separated into two warring kingdoms
one of them (the boy?) runs into a mage. he has a magic hourglass - if the hourglass runs out, something bad happens (end of the world?) unless something happens before then (like the two kingdoms reunite or something)
mage turns out to be the one from the prologue talking to a demon, he’s trying to make the horrible thing happen (no one else knows this)

end of the book
two kingdoms fight this huge battle in front of the forest
girl with one group, boy with another
as they’re facing off, wise man comes out of the woods. he reveals everything - the two kingdoms had a marriage alliance between a prince and princess, but it went wrong and everyone thought the prince and princess had been killed. but the wise man had gotten them and hidden them in the forest
boy and girl realize they have to marry

[Michele]

Hm. This is not an exact match (the title isn't a single word, for one thing), but quite a few other points do match: Enchantress from the Stars.

Georyn, youngest son of a woodcutter, ventures into the enchanted forest in search of something that will help him defeat a dragon that is menacing his people. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who can defeat the dragon.

When he enters the forest he meets a wizard/wise man who lives there, an who gives him a talisman (the medallion/amulet) to help him fight the "dragon." He also meets a beautiful young women (the enchantress of the title), whom he falls in love with.

There are some twists and turns -- as it turns out, the "dragon" is actually a huge piece of earthmoving equipment and the "demons" that attend it are colonists from another planet. Georyn and his people, being very low-technology, interpret them as a dragon and demons. The wizard and the enchantress are members of an interstellar federation whose goal is to get the colonists to leave, but without anyone knowing they have interfered. So they play the parts of wizard and enchantress, since that's what Georyn and his people can understand.

The book doesn't have a battle per se, but it does have a face-off between Georyn -- aided by the talisman/amulet -- and the "demons".

[Lari]

Michele wrote: "Hm. This is not an exact match (the title isn't a single word, for one thing), but quite a few other points do match: Enchantress from the Stars.

Georyn, youngest son of a woodcutt..."
Oh awesome! I'll definitely take a look. Thanks for the suggestion (and if it's not it, I'm still excited to read this one ;))

[Michele]

It's one of my favorite books -- moral complexity is always fun :)

[Lari]

Bumping this back up in case any one has insight! :)

[Andria]

Random guess: The Shattered Stone. The plot description sort of fits, there's an enchanted forest, a boy and a girl who get married at the end, a quest, and warring kingdoms, although the cover doesn't match his memory.

You can read the prologue and first chapter at google books:
http://bit.ly/2e7BEAl

[Lari]

Andria wrote: "Random guess: The Shattered Stone. The plot description sort of fits, there's an enchanted forest, a boy and a girl who get married at the end, a quest, and warring kingdoms, althoug..."

Oh my goodness!! I somehow disabled notifications on this thread, but this is it!!! Thank you SO much for your sleuthing! I can't belive I missed this back in October. Thank you!

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Lari! Thanks for the update.

Added a spoiler alert to the topic header.