“What happened?” she asked.

Kay squirmed closer to Sarah so she could hear his whispering. “The fey seem to be a bit more violent than we expected. They thought we were hunting them, and they attacked. They got you with their arrows. You’re lucky they didn’t shoot you with a few more. I’ve heard of some people who get shot with fey arrows and fall asleep for years at a time.”

“Where’s Keeley?”

“She’s over there in a silver cage…near the leader.”

Sarah squinted across the fire. Indeed, there was a silver-barred cage sitting opposite her, with bars so closely spaced that even the tiny dragon couldn’t squeeze through. At first, Sarah assumed the creature next to Keeley was one of the beast-men. He had hairy legs and hooves, but his head was human – save for a small pair of goat horns that protruded from his forehead. He wore a crown of leaves, colored with the many bright colors of autumn foliage. When he saw Sarah looking at him, he got out of his throne of brambles and called for the other creatures in the forest to be quiet.

One by one, the other fey fell silent. Sarah marveled at the strange creatures around her. In addition to the tiny sprites she had seen before, there were many other creatures that seemed familiar to her only from the books she used to read. One hairy creature with tusks protruding from his lower jaw stood twice as tall as any person she had ever seen. She guessed that it was an ogre, or possible a troll. Another woman standing at the forest’s edge wore only a thin shawl. Her skin was a dark brown, and seemed to have the same texture as tree bark. Sarah guessed that woman might be a wood nymph of some sort. Two other creatures had human torsos and heads, but the lower body of a horse. Sarah knew right away that they were centaurs. Of the many creatures at the assembly, though, those were the only creatures she easily recognized. Other members of the fey were creatures she had never seen or read of before. One of them looked like a shambling mound of vines only roughly in the shape of a man. Another flew through the air with a long serpentine body, though its scaly skin was covered bright peacock-like feathers. Looking at the many strange creatures, Sarah tried to remember as many details as she could. At the very least, maybe she could write a story of her own about this place when she got home. Unfortunately, the creature next to Keeley’s cage gave a loud shout that tore Sarah’s attention from her surroundings and forced everyone to look at him.

“Silence!” cried the creature. “We must hear out the humans before determining their punishment.”

“Punishment? Punishment for what?” asked Sarah.

If the hoofed man heard Sarah, he didn’t show any sign of it. He walked around the fire and stood in front of his prisoners. The tiny glowing fey whose arrows had put Sarah to sleep darted about him, giving his body an eerie green glow.

“Humans, I am Pan, master of the fey and guardian of the valley’s forests. And you three have brought a grave danger into our midst. You have willingly teamed with our natural predator, a dragon, and brought her hunting for us.”

“Oh…now I remember why I was worried,” said Dax. “The reason dragons can track fey so well is because they’re predators.”

“You could have told us that a little earlier,” snapped Kay.

“I’m sorry. My memory must be going. It happens in old age, you know, along with aches and pains and a beastly tiredness that I can’t seem to shake.” The old warrior gave a self-pitying sigh, despite the peril the rest of the companions faced. “But really, how was I supposed to remember something like that? Keeley’s so small and playful, she doesn’t seem like the type to go stalking for food. If anything, she’s usually hanging around the circus eating the scraps left behind by the other performers.”

“That’s right,” said Sarah, twisting her body so she could speak directly to Pan. “Keeley wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a fey. We were just looking for a lost spellbook, and we hoped Keeley could help us track it down.”

“Indeed,” grunted Pan. He gave a low whistle, and one of the fey stepped forward. She looked human, but was very thin and had fine pointed ears. The woman looked so frail that Sarah thought a stiff wind might blow her away. She bowed before Pan and offered him up a book she held in her hands. Both Sarah and Kay gave a shout, because the book was unmistakably familiar. It was, of course, Kay’s missing spellbook.

“My people found this tome carelessly buried under a rock,” said Pan as he opened the book and flipped casually through its pages. “It is quite a treasure, and it is too valuable not to be in our hands.”

“That’s mine!” shouted Kay. “It was handed down to me by my father.”

“And where do you think your father got it, boy?” Pan glared at Kay and stamped his hoof impatiently. “The secrets contained in here are as old as the valley itself. Your father, or one of his ancestors, stole it from our treasure troves many years ago. Now we’ve found it, and it will stay with us.”

“It’s mine, and I won’t let you keep it from me any longer!” Kay struggled against his bonds. When they didn’t yield, he tried another tactic. Closing his eyes, he began concentrating on a spell, and started speaking magical words. “Abeo…no, um…duo inga…darn it, how did that spell go?”

Pan only chuckled. “Give it up, child. You’re human. You may have been born in this valley, but you don’t belong here. Without this book, you have no gift for magic.”

Kay’s face fell as he realized how helpless he was. He bowed his head, closed his eyes, and remained silent. Seeing her friend so downtrodden by Pan’s words, Sarah couldn’t help but get angry.

“Who are you to talk like that?” she shouted, pushing herself up straight. “Kay here has been on the run from an entire army because of that book. He’s put his life at risk to keep it out of Baelan’s hands, and he hasn’t thought twice about his own safety. He’s definitely more deserving of his father’s spellbook than you are. All you’ve done is tie us up and bully us for nothing.”

Pan turned a glittering black eye toward Sarah. “And who are you? Do you consider yourself a native to Greystone Valley, or are you one of the many people trapped in our little world?”

“My name is Sarah. What’s it matter whether I was born here or not? The important thing is I’m here now, and I don’t appreciate being treated like a villain when I haven’t done anything wrong.”

A murmur ran through the fey as Sarah spoke. Pan held up his hand, and the creatures fell silent again.

“You look familiar, girl. Have we met before?”

The angry look never left Sarah’s face. “No. I think I’d remember a bully like you.”

Pan started to answer, but was interrupted as a hunter’s horn sounded nearby. He looked startled, and the other creatures of the forest gave a worried buzz.

“That horn cam from too close,” he said. “No one should be able to find their way this deep into the forest without one of the fey to guide them.”

He turned away from the bound companions and started speaking orders to the other fey in that same strange language Sarah had heard before. He didn’t even get halfway through his orders, though, before he was interrupted again.

A burst of flame tore through the forest, sending burned leaves and scorched branches to the forest floor. The flame was followed by a pair of massive winged lizards – dragons, but not nearly as harmless as Keeley. The creatures were the size of small horses, with fangs like knives and dark orange scales. They looked at the fey hungrily, licking their chops with forked tongues.

Each of the dragons wore a collar and a long leather leash. What could hold something that powerful back, Sarah didn’t know – or at least she thought she didn’t. In another moment, a familiar figure stepped over the broken trees and into view. He stood tall, a giant even compared to the dragons he held. His head was not that of a person’s, but instead that of a ram.

“Pan,” he rumbled as he looked upon the surprise fey. “I should have known you would be keeping the boy’s book safe for him.”

Pan’s face paled as he looked upon the hunter. Like Sarah, he knew who he faced. “Aries,” he gasped.

Baelan’s general smiled cruelly and raised an ivory horn to his lips. He gave one more blow through it, sending a signal to the rest of his troops. The dragons snapped at the air and roared hungrily as dozens of beast-men began stampeded toward the forest clearing. The ground shook as though it were being wracked by an earthquake. Then the beast-men leaped into the clearing, their weapons drawn. The battle had begun.