Zach's red dragon stone bonds him to Drake, the dragon, and gives him some warrior-type magic such as shooting beams of energy. His magical element is time, though he doesn't have a paladin that can give him Level Two powers.
Zach was born on Aldenmor, to parents who were magic users and friends of Ravenswood's owner, Henry Gardener. Silver Eyes, a mistwolf and mother of the pack leader, raised him after his parents were killed by a manticore. During one of Zach's attempts to take revenge on the manticore, Silver Eyes and other wolves were captured by the Dark Sorceress and presumed dead. Moonshadow, the pack leader, blamed Zach for the tragedy and expelled him from the pack. He was later taken in by elves, and bonded with an orphaned griffin named Winddancer. The pair helped the Farimentals against the Dark Sorceress for several years, until Winddancer was killed in Cry of the Wolf. Later in the same book, Adriane gave Zach the dragon stone, bonding him to a newly-hatched Drake.
When he first appears in Cry of the Wolf, Zach seems moody, pushy, and somewhat paranoid as a result of his difficult life. He is later shown to care deeply for Aldenmor and his friends, and softens up after he befriends Adriane and reconciles with the mistwolves. He shares a special relationship with Adriane (and may want to be her boyfriend), as she was the first human he met and they are both bonded to Drake. His experience in Aldenmor's wilderness has made him independent and resourceful, with good instincts and survival skills.