This title had been translated into Japanese (now out-of-print, unfortunately). Magician Blais was murdered by Nimir, Ice-lord. Blais's incompetent apprentice Tristan must go to a quest to rescue the sleeping princess Allaire. There are loveable creatures like Valadan, a war-horse and a cat Thomas. And Tristan needs to find the tenth ring of Allaire for her. His failure will be the end of all Calandra.
This is really an enjoyable story. Chatracters are charming and plots are exciting but not overly garish. It's a far better read than the recent too-fat-so-called-epic-fantasy.