Her warrior band was united by an unquenchable desire to expel the invaders from the sacred sylvan fastness of that most ancient elven homeland. Half a thousand perished even before the border of Silvanesti was reached, lost to heat, tainted water, and poisonous reptiles. Where fine sand finally gave way to loamy soil, and stunted pines and twisted junipers to leaf-bearing trees, the minotaurs were waiting. Using their dreaded “dragontooth” tactics, they shredded the Lioness’s force long before it reached Silvanesti land. Her grand plan to raise the common folk in revolt against their brutal overlords died before it could be born.

Repulsed at the border, the elves had shifted eastward, hoping to get around the wall of minotaurs. Everywhere they tried to enter Silvanesti, they were met by the swords and axes of the brawny bull-men. Food and water dwindling, the Lioness was forced to retreat. Failure in battle was one thing; she had known defeat before. Failure here, with nothing at their backs but three hundred miles of desert, was much worse. Annihilation stared every elf in the face. All they could do was return the way they had come, back across the scorching desert, hoping they would reach their temporary home-the tent settlement near Khuri-Khan-before they perished.

A rider was cantering through the slow-moving column, streams of dust rising behind him. Kerianseray heard the hoofbeats and halted, tugging on Eagle Eye’s braided halter.

The griffon, unhappy to have his raptor’s claws on the broiling sand, arched his neck and clawed at the offending ground. The Lioness spoke briefly to him and be quieted.

The rider slewed to a halt. “General I bring urgent word from the rear guard!”

She squinted up at him, wracking her sun-broil memory for a name. Hytanthas it was. Hytanthas Ambrodel. Two centuries ago his forefathers dwelled in the marbled halls of Qualinost advisors to the Speaker of the Sun. Centuries before that, in Silvanost, his ancestors would have owned Kagonesti slaves. This dirty, disheveled young soldier was now among the last of his line.