Wizard's Goal — Alan Garner

Kidnapped as an infant and raised in the East by a retired soldier, a bewildered youth becomes embroiled in the affairs of wizards with the appearance of a strange benefactor after his foster father is brutally murdered. Cajoled by the mysterious Maldoch into accompanying him on a madcap jaunt to secure peace before Terrath is plunged into a devastating race war, Garrich finds himself the unwitting pawn in the eternal tussle between Good and Evil.
Will he eventuate as the warrior predicted to shape future events? Or is one amongst the Goblin horde poised to invade from the north the true decider?