The little room in which they were now standing was panelled in green moss all around the walls and here and there patches of the orange lichen that served to provide light were buried amongst the green. The wooden ceiling was low and gave the room a cosy atmosphere quite unlike the grandeur of the great chamber outside; it reminded Brock and Nab of the sett. There were two small round windows in opposite walls and through them could be seen the whole of the clearing; Brock looked out and saw that the sun was starting to grow pale and the mist beginning to rise from the water and spread out amongst the trees.

The Elflord sat in a seat that had been carved in the wooden wall next to one of the windows and Nab and the animals sat on the floor at his feet. He smiled at them for a long time, looking from one to the other, and his smile had the warmth of age. They looked deep into his misty grey eyes and became lost in the mysteries of time until they felt as if they were swimming in a sea of cloud. Finally, as the sun sank in the winter afternoon and shone through the window casting a halo of gold around his head, he began to speak, and his voice was grave.

‘The time has come,’ he said, ‘for you to learn something of our world. In the beginning were only the Efflinch, by name Ashgaroth and Dréagg; and Ashgaroth the Great One, Lord of Good, had fought Dréagg the Mighty, Ruler of Evil, since time itself had begun.

‘And the Universe rang with the sound and fury of the Efflinch Wars and the nature of them may not be contemplated by us though their horror may be perhaps guessed at and glimpsed in the darkest and wildest of our nightmares.

‘And in their struggle for supremacy the Efflinch wrought matter out of themselves and hurled it through the endless darknesses of space.

‘And after aeons of time too infinite to grasp Dréagg the Mighty wearied and became subdued and Ashgaroth trumpeted in the heavens his glorious victory. And Dréagg he banished to the Halls of Drāgorn in whose foul atmosphere he was to languish for ever. Dréagg, he nursed his wounds and brooded long over the bitterness of his defeat.

‘And Ashgaroth looked at the wreckage of war and saw the Universe full of the missiles of battle; and in celebration of victory he chose such a one and vowed to transform it, to make it his jewel and glory to shine as an everlasting memorial to the triumph of the Lord of Good.

‘And he blessed it with the gifts of life and he gave colour, shape and form to this life.

‘He first created the green growing things: the trees, grasses, mosses and lichens; then the flowers and the vegetables of the earth and their colours glowed and shone so that he was well pleased.

‘And he created the mountains as pinnacles of his power to reach up to the sky; and he gave them a savagery and power to reflect even his own.

‘And he created the sea and the blue was of a depth and brilliance that defied the eye to meet it; and in joy at his creation he invested it with a fragment of his own might so that it heaved and rolled even as he breathed.

‘And lastly he peopled the oceans and the land with the creatures of life, the animals, the birds and the insects, to live among them and to survive by the fruits and the berries. And there was harmony and peace amongst the life he had created and they were at ease with one another so that it was even as he had wished, for Earth shone out as the creation of the Lord of Good.

‘And the light was strong so that it came to Dréagg where he lurked in the Halls of Drāgorn which are outside the Universe and his fury welled within him even as the light goaded him, seeming to taunt him with the bitter memories of his defeat so that he fed from the eldritch and steaming fluids that lie within the Halls and slowly regained his strength and power.

‘And his sojourn amongst these noxious vapours had made of Dréagg a more cunning adversary and the more dangerous for it so that he returned slowly and insidiously with great stealth and deceit and he turned the animals one against the other so that they fought one with the other and lived off the flesh of their fellows, and the creatures of the Earth were afflicted with much suffering and torment as the waters ran red with their pain.

‘And Ashgaroth in his renewed struggle with the Lord of Evil created a race to fight the influence of Dréagg and to restore peace and innocence to his chosen jewel. And this race is named the Elves and they are of Magic so that they were formed from the wind and the stars and their essence is of the depth of the mighty sea and their spirit is amongst the green growing things of the woods and the trees and their souls are of the wild forgotten mountains.

‘And three Elves he put over all the Earth according to the three great vastnesses of creation, so that there was Malcoff, Lord of the Mountains; Saurélon the Lord of the Seas and Ammdar who was Lord of the Forests and the green growing things.

‘And the Elflords fought the power of Dréagg for many moons and the stories of their struggle have passed into legend for great was the bravery of the Elves and mighty were their Heroes. But greater still was the power of Dréagg and Magic alone was not enough to combat his dread evil so that his influence waxed strong and the Earth was rendered hideous by the horrors that abounded.

‘And the Elflords beseeched the Mighty Ashgaroth to render them aid in their time of need. And so it was that he bestowed upon the Elves, the second of the Duâin Elrondin (or the powers of life) which is Logic, and of the two, which are Magic and Logic, this second is the most dangerous. But there was great fear in the heart of Ashgaroth at the bestowal of this gift and he warned them of its danger and that it was to be used most sparingly for if it were allowed to gain ascendance, then it would destroy the Earth.

‘So that none of the Elves should be able to use the power without the others, Ashgaroth divided the power into three, which are the Three Seeds of Logic, and each seed he placed in a casket wrought from burnished copper from the deepest Mines of Mixon; and each casket he gave into the possession of one of the three Elflords. Thus it was that the power of Logic could not be used unless the Three Seeds were brought together and released as one and once they had been released they could be used no more.

‘And it has been seen that there were three Lords over all the Earth; but of these the greatest was Ammdar, Lord of the Forests whose power was such that the grass turned to silver where he walked and the leaves changed to gold when he wished it. And he walked the forests, his domain, and all bowed down and marvelled at his might and he fought Dréagg and many times he won.

‘And Dréagg watched the powers of Ammdar and saw in their very greatness the chance for which he had been waiting. And in the darkest nights, when the Earth slept, he whispered to Ammdar from afar so that he might not know that the words were the words of Dréagg. And as time passed so did Ammdar, the Silver Warrior, become vain and proud and conscious of his strength; and so also did he grow greedy and Dréagg nurtured this greed and fed it until it grew so that Ammdar rejected his Lord Ashgaroth.

‘And finally, when Dréagg sensed the time was right, did he make himself known and plant his scheme in the mind of Ammdar. “With the seeds of logic in your possession,” he said, “then would you indeed be supreme over all the Earth. And I will help you in this task if you will accept me as your Lord so that together we may conquer Ashgaroth.”

‘And the lust for power, which had been gnawing away at the soul of Ammdar like a disease, was such that he welcomed Dréagg willingly as his Lord.

‘And so began a saga of deceit and treachery in which Dréagg assisted Ammdar to find Elflings of his own and of the two other Great Lords who would help him in his quest for the seeds. And he promised them power if they would reject Ashgaroth and their own Lords in favour of the Ruler of Evil. And many who were approached refused Ammdar and were destroyed most horribly but some there were who accepted him and these are called Goblins for they are Fallen Elves.