The Waste was stirring and strange forms of the Dark, long quiet, began to wake as Kerovan--whose cloven hoofs marked his kinship with the Old Ones--journeyed into the Waste on a secret mission, leaving behind the girl he loved. Joisan, however, rode after him, wearing about her neck Kerovan's gift, a small crystal globe encasing a miniature gryphon. While Kerovan strove for answers to the riddles of the Dark, Joesan worked to unlock the power of the crystal gryphon. But only together could they hope to find the ancient Sleeper and defeat the forces of evil.