Karigan G'ladheon had been a Green Rider, one of the king of Sacoridia's elite magical messengers. In the messenger service she had been caught up in a world of deadly danger, and though she had defeated the Eletian who cracked the magical D'Yer Wall which had protected Sacoridia for a thousand years from the dark influence of Blackveil Forest, and Mornhavon the Black's evil spirit imprisoned within it she had nonetheless been tainted by his wild magic.Exhausted in body and spirit, Karigan had returned to her home in Corsa. But Karigan's determination was no match for the Rider's call. Ghostly hoofbeats echoed in the deep regions of her mind, and she returned to the court to find the Green Riders weakened and diminished. Rider magic was becoming unreliable, and she herself was having ghostly visions of Lil Ambriodhe, First Rider, and founder of the Green Rider corps.