Chapter 2

The new caretaker’s accord with the Unicorns had been the only reason the Guardian of the Lands and Princess Serena had allowed him the privilege of caring for the Unicorns that rested within the cavern stables.

The Unicorns seemed to cherish him. Often nuzzling at him for affection, despite the fact he rarely brought them treats. They simply enjoyed his touch.

Giving a sharp nod, she leaned over the stallion’s neck and without command, Tripelli rose to his back legs, pawed the air then came down with a jump that had him shooting from the cavern and making the sharp turn that led to the narrow eastern passage to the Emerald Valley.

Rains often swelled the stream that ran through the passage to dangerous levels, making it hazardous for the Unicorns to cross at the two points where no other path could be taken. If it were clear, then it would remain so until the next hard rains, and would cut the journey to the Emerald Valley by more than half the distance.

Tripelli charged through the Royal Forest, heading for the eastern entrance to Emerald Valley. Powerful legs and a wide chest ensured his endurance, and with the wind playing haphazardly through his mane and Astra’s curls, it was as close as the Sorceresses came to flying until the Griffons had been found.

The eastern passage was wide, filled with lush green grass and sheltering trees. As the caretaker said, the Unicorn mares and their foals frolicked in the small vale and splashed about the stream that wound through it.

The closer she came to the Emerald Valley, the more painful the thought of returning there became.

The spell that had turned the Griffons to stone had been reversed, but for two. The infant male, Tambor, and the half-grown male, Candalar, who had been broken cruelly while in stone form.

Their healers had no idea how to repair the damage, or if repair were even possible. Arrangements would be made to bring them to the castle. Until then, they had been left as they lay, Marina’s fears that even the smallest shard of stone could be lost in the transfer making the decision for her.

Yet, surprisingly she could now sense both males, where before she had not, as she neared the area where they had been left.

Weak. The magick that flowed through them was barely existent, though it had been nonexistent before.

Where once she had felt nothing when she searched for their location, she now felt their warmth, Tambor’s confusion, though not his fear. Candalar was irritated, though neither appeared in distress.

Or if they were, they were unaware of it.

But they wanted her with them now.

She had played with them for many years, soothed their minor wounds caused by play, and often teased them for their clumsiness.

She was one of their favored caretakers, and the closer she came to the area where they had been left broken and discarded, the louder their summons seemed to grow.

Her ears were ringing with the roars they now sent along the telepathic pathways. Her head was buzzing with their demands that she come to them.

Urging Tripelli to greater speed, she held tight to the heavy mane, her gaze narrowed against the wind and her own thoughts.

How could they be calling out to her? How much more heartache could she bear than to hold the cold stone to her breast and know she could not return them from the cold stone forms they had been turned into? There could be no evil greater than that which the Justice Layel had practiced upon the innocent Griffon babes. And no horror Astra imagined could be greater to the cubs.

May the Sentinel Select protect any other being with the slightest thought to harm more of those creatures.

Marina might believe others were more powerful than Astra. She might be uncertain where Astra’s powers were concerned. But Astra was not uncertain. Neither was she unprepared to spill blood in the defense of the animals she had grown so fond of.

Animals that were stone, their magick silenced since the moment the Justice Layel had touched the perverted spell upon them, was surely an evil punishable by the fiery horrors of Shadow Hell.

Clearing the stream and entering the valley, Tripelli took his own path, following his connection with Astra to find his way to the emanations of magick that called to her.

Winding through the edges of the Emerald Valley, sheltered by the heavily leafed, sheltering trees of the Royal Forest, Astra could feel the hope beginning to burn inside her that somehow the spell had been reversed and the cubs were calling out for soothing strokes along their backs or the warm baths the Sorceresses provided.

Surely she would not find cold stone.

Surely it was not the still, gray forms she would find as the cubs’ spirits cried out to her.

The horror of that thought tore at her chest and filled her eyes with tears as the Unicorn made a wide turn around the huge boulders that rested on the forest floor as though tossed there by the gods’ restless play.

Rounding the great stone spheres, the Unicorn came to a sliding stop, his rump nearly touching the ground at the sight that lay across his path.

A sob tore from her lips, a gasping cry of shock at what she found and her inability to process such a sight.

It could not be.

The Delmari Twins. The Wizard traitors both Covenan Warrioresses and Cauldaran Wizard and Sorcerer Warriors were searching for to question in regard to dabbling in dark magick and leading that perverted power into the Griffons’ lair. The two warriors Astra had fought to forget, to push from her soul at the knowledge that they had disappeared before the battle in the valley for the Griffons had ended.

It was believed they had fled from the fight, refusing to battle against the dark evil because they called it master. They were accused of betraying both Sorceresses and Wizards to the dark magick, without care of the consequences.

But it wasn’t dark magick she saw as she slid from the Unicorn’s back and approached cautiously. It was not evil that the land and the Griffon cubs were whispering to her, rather a demand for aid.

Lying beside the Wizard Twins’ unconscious forms were the fully intact, living, breathing, if weakened, forms of the Griffon babes she believed she would never see romping about the valley again.

What caused her to do what she did next, she couldn’t explain.

Well she could, but it was an explanation she didn’t want to venture into at the moment. It was one she couldn’t allow herself to venture into.

Instead, she joined her Wizards in treason.