Dai She flushed red with anger. “There will be no mistakes! It is you who are weak.” He bristled with energy. Markhor thought he would lash out at him … and he’d seen what he was capable of. But he settled down and the energy dissipated. He walked into the shade of the tunnel. “Get me something soft to use as a pillow. You take first watch. No more than an hour.”

A shadow shifted and they both looked to the horizon, where the top edge of the full moon had just crested.

“What are you waiting for? Do it now!”

Markhor used what energy he had left to mask his disdain—and to imprint a sleep spell into Dai She’s mind. Dai She yawned, long and widemouthed. Markhor smiled. He nudged Dai She’s leg to make sure he was out, then let the facade of Henry’s father completely dissipate as he raised his arms to soak in the rays of the bad moon.

The new cavern was nothing like the one Coralis had revealed earlier. This one was much smaller—or perhaps it only seemed that way because of the number of people in it. Henry counted off a group of ten and estimated there must have been close to a hundred people gathered. “Allies,” Joseph had called them. Men and women with power over the Earth.

Flaring torches lined the roughly circular walls at regular intervals, bathing the cavern in an eerie red glow.

Joseph signaled for everyone to sit. All but one obeyed the command. A young girl about Henry’s age stepped forward, weaving her way through the assembly. She carried a single wand, delicately carved and finely polished. In the cavern’s dim glow, the wand looked like an extension of her hand, matching her slim fingers. She pointed it at him.

Suddenly Henry grimaced in pain! He fell to his knees as agony exploded in his head. Then as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone. And in its place was a vision of a world untamed by man. It occurred to him that if there was a picture of the world “in the beginning,” this was it.

The vision rushed at him, revealing plains of long grass that bent before him as he soared past. He crested a small rise and gasped in awe. A herd of bison stretched from horizon to horizon. He floated above them, close enough to reach out and touch them.

As he crested the next rise, a herd of wild stallions appeared, as vast as that of the bison. He zoomed past one horse after another, until he came to a regal beast the color of night. His coat was flawless, as if painted with purest black, then dipped in lacquer.