The Emerald Crown (The Red Sword Trilogy)

When Nathaliey, a young wizard, is taken prisoner by marauders trying to break her will and force her to join the sorcerer’s acolytes, the last help she expects is from the griffin riders who have harassed her and her companions through the mountains. But when their chief rescues Nathaliey from an enemy-held castle, the griffin riders join a temporary alliance of wizards and paladins to push back the sorcerer’s invasion. Meanwhile, Nathaliey’s fellow wizard Markal is aiding the master in a desperate attempt to save the contents of the magical library in Syrmarria before the sorcerer brings up fire salamanders from the infernal realms to burn the city. They flee for the order’s gardens ahead of the destruction, pursued by the sorcerer’s armies, both living and dead. As the enemy encircles the garden fortress, Markal realizes that the only way to save their lives and the precious knowledge they protect may be to call forth a terrible incantation from a past age that threatens to destroy as much as it preserves.