Synopsis: Children of the Prophecy; Magic's Cast Off

I got stuck on 'Children of the Prophecy'the story outlined below, perhaps because I outlined it below. Abandoned it. Now I'm about halfway thru 'Magic's Cast Off' which I will not outline below. . . yet. The Berserker, imprisoned in a magical stasis condition in the Lost City inside the desolate lands, is gaining power and sending waves of confusion, forgetfulness, despair, and terror across the lands. First to suffer is the Kingdom of Montgomery Kent, the only kingdom in the land which has forbidden the use of magic and exiled all who have magic powers. King Howard, Queen Wicomico, and the heir to the throne Prince George's have gathered all those who have any memory of the legends surrounding the imprisonment generations upon generations ago of the Berserker. They believe that the answer is hidden in the Lost City. Jan Iya, Mai Lee, Ron All, and ?????, all talented youths yet expendable, are sent to the Lost City to search for answers. With the help of sentient critters Rawl the wolf-dog, Ki'ina the desert cat, Scree the hawk, and Hoku the monkey, they travel to the Lost City and return safely with the journals of the Old Ones. When priests and learned ones find no answers, the four critters and the four youths search the journals. The answer they find is that the Berserker was trapped and imprisoned through combining the various magics of the peoples of all the kingdoms in the land. However, because magic is so mistrusted, no one believes them. The critters train them in their latent magics and they battle the Berserker and the Berserker's minions and sendings. Do they win? Perhaps.