reprints Elfquest issues 6–10) History The Wolfriders first encounter the Chosen Eight (prior to the introduction of the rest of the Gliders or Blue Mountain) in the story arc/graphic novel The Forbidden Grove. Strongbow, a Wolfrider, shoots down a large bird making its fledgling flight, despite warnings not to from Suntop, son of Cutter the wolf chief, a young boy elf who senses magic. This bird turns out to have been the “bond-bird” of Kureel, one of the Chosen Eight, later revealed in Captives at Blue Mountain. The Chosen Eight then take most of the fleeing Wolfriders captive; Suntop is among those who escape. The Wolfriders are then forced into indentured servitude to the Gliders as penance for slaying the bond-bird. Strongbow is trapped in a thorny cage of shaped rock and tortured mercilessly by Winnowill, the leader of the Gliders. Cutter, the Wolfriders' chief, attempts to rescue his captive tribe members with help from his lifemate, Leetah, and his best friend, Skywise. They make it into the mountain's walls and are astonished to discover these strange new elves. Suntop's "magic feeling" alerts him to the fact that Winnowill is the "evil presence" that his mentor, Savah, warned him about when the Wolfriders left the village of Sorrow's End. During the resulting skirmish within the mountain, Winnowill dissuades the Wolfriders from fighting as she announces (falsely) that "We are the High Ones!" The Wolfriders are divided in their reactions to this news. Strongbow, still traumatized by his torture at Winnowill's hand, chooses to refuse Lord Voll's offer of hospitality within Blue Mountain and leaves the mountain with his lifemate, Moonshade, to wait in the forests below for the rest of the Wolfriders. During the Captives of Blue Mountain story arc, Leetah discovers from Winnowill that her healing gifts are actually a form of flesh-shaping, not unlike rock-shaping or tree shaping, powers demonstrated by a few elves at various times in elfin history. Skywise and the Glider Aroree become better acquainted as Skywise rides with Aroree on her giant bond-bird, the first time he had ever flown. While they make their flight, Aroree soars over a camp of humans and tosses them some new spears. The Wolfriders come to realize that the Gliders, in their arrogance, had convinced the humans that they were gods. The Gliders and the Wolfriders form an uneasy alliance for a while, until Winnowill attempts to kidnap