The Black Gryphon

This is a time when magic is still a powerful, uncontrollable force, Valdemar is yet unproven, and its Heraldic order is still forming. Skandranon Rashkae, with his lustrous black feathers, impressive wingspan, acute magesight, and keen intellect, is perhaps the best exemplar of his breed. Fearless, audacious, and sly, Skan embodies everything that a gryphon ought to be. He is the realization of all the goals that the human sorcerer known as Urtho, the wizard of Silence, set out to accomplish when he fashioned these magical creatures to be his protectors and champions of his realm—a lush plain that the malevolent wizard Maar had long desired.

Now, Maar is approaching on Urtho's Keep once again, but this time he is leading a massive army led by his own magical creations, ferocious birds of prey who are willing to carry out whatever evil their creator desires. Under the cover of Urtho's potent Spell of Silence, Skandrannon is sent to spy across enemy lines when one of Urtho's Seers awakens from a terrifying vision in which she witnesses a lethal magical weapon being put in the hands of Maar's ordinary troops.