Kaira spent most of the trip back to the Zunite valley gaining trust with Sai-ti. She told the manticore about her life before she came to Luthania, and hers and Shal’s adventures since the blue mist: King Alfred, the Great Lady, Klynath, Birjanji, Giska, Mysteria, Lord DuPraye, their quest…

In turn, Sai-ti related the story of his life. He was a young lion when Mantico captured him, as were the others—there were five in all. Two were female. Before their capture, they roamed free across the grasslands far to the south. Then, he and the others found themselves trapped, tied down, and contained in small cages, no longer able to go where they wished.

They were subjected to all kinds of magical experiments as Mantico sought to fulfil his ideas of animal perfection. One of the femal...

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