He had coveted this high, feral land, and now it was his. Caradore, and its guardian family, the Palindrakes, had once belonged to the sea. Their flags were adorned with the ocean's brutal, yet fragile, monsters: sea dragons, proud, attenuated, and coral-frail. If the mournful cries of their shattered ghosts echoed from the ocean now, no one heard them. The flags had fallen and were burned. The elements had clashed and fire reigned triumphant.

The Palindrakes were defeated, but not lost. For the lady of Caradore protected the secret rituals of the family's bond to the sea. And in time the power of the Sea Dragons would rise again.