Tanner and Gwen with their quest to defeat Derthsin. He is first encountered in the village of Colton, where the other two Riders end up after their Beasts discover Nera there. Rufus is the Chosen Rider of Falkor, a Beast that takes the form of a large snake. Rufus has the ability to shoot extremely powerful blue beams of magic, but this uses up most of his energy, so he only does this sparingly. A dark secret is revealed about him in the last book. Geffen is the twin brother of Gwen and betrayed the secrets of the map to general Gor. After dying in the old mines by an avalanche he was brought back to life as a living corpse, forced to obey orders. Vendrake is a dark wizard and a servant of Derthsin who rides in a vulture-drawn chariot and wields a cat-o-nine tails. He was tortured to death by Derthsin years ago and was turned into a living corpse, the same thing that he did to Geffen. Captain Brutus works for Derthsin and commands the soldiers in the old mines. When the boys stop working he whips them with his whip. He is last seen in "Chasing Evil". Beasts Firepos is the young phoenix-Beast of whom Tanner is the Chosen Rider. She is ferocious, and can shoot fireballs from her talons at will. She heals her own wounds, however severe, by some of her flames enveloping the wound. She loses this ability after Tanner drinks her blood making her grow weaker. She trained Tanner after she first met him in the prologue of "First Hero" so that he was prepared to fight. Gulkien is a wolf-Beast, whose Chosen Rider is Gwen, a girl of spirit. Gulkien attacks by means of his savage claws and razor-sharp fangs. Gulkien can also heal his wounds by sprouting fur over the area affected. Nera is a puma-Beast, and Castor is her Chosen Rider. Nera's characteristic is superb speed - she can race across vast landscapes in minutes, much faster than the other Beasts. It is discovered that she was trained by Firepos. Falkor is a snake-beast and his Chosen Rider is Rufus. Falkor can slither almost as fast as Nera runs. He fights by striking men and breaking their bones. The colour of his scales seems to reflect his mood. Varlot is a Dark Beast who can reject a Chosen Rider,