The Golden Gryphon Feather

From the back cover of the DAW first edition: "In those days the blood of the gods circulated among mortals, and wonderworkers lived side by side with ordinary folk. Chryseis was a princess in whom strange forces and ancient mysteries contended. But she herself had to work out that which confronted her when she was sent as tribute to the legendary isle of Kaphtu. For in that dawnland kingdom, she found herself an object of contention between the human and the non-human forces that had long been in a truce. Her major defense was to be feather of a mythical monster while alone could guide her to an unguessable inheritance."