Ralph and the Pixie - Page 427/574

‘The Elves they fear, more so than Men or Dwarves. Men have little Lore, at least of the type that concerns magic, and the Dwarf Lore, though powerful in its way, poses no direct threat to our Faerie kindred.

‘But the Elves of Lore are another matter entirely. As a civilization, we have become both puissant and dangerous. The Power we possess we cannot wield, for it is beyond us. Those who own it cannot be trusted. Those with conscience who mislike this state of affairs are held hostage by it, for they must remain to oppose, and to hold what until now has been an endless and hopeless vigil.

‘It is because we have had to mind the affairs of the unscrupulous that, more often than not, our attention has been diverted from the peril of our Faerie kindred. This has ever been the design of the King and Prince Cir, the means by which opposition has been hamstrung at every turn.

‘The Elven and other related kindred who left long ago, departed these lands that are now the Elf Kingdom soon after that spell was enacted which wrested the Weather and the Seasons from the Earth Mother.’ He sighed. ‘Would that more of us had as much sense.’