‘They will have many times our number of soldiers. Can it be that the dream that was the Elf Kingdom has become a nightmare from which there is no awakening? To make one’s way in life, one must have hope, but I can find none! What is there to fight for if our future and our children are doomed? How can I look my wife and daughter in the eye if the means to protect their lives is beyond me?’
‘I think,’ the Thane told him, ‘that you should share your concerns with the Man, Ralph; you have become close friends, have you not? Perhaps if he understands the depth of our plight, and the extent to which it concerns him, he might be motivated to plumb the uttermost limit of his talents.’
‘I have not the right to place such a burden on his shoulders,’ Pran replied. ‘He is already doing the best that he can.’
‘If you do not,’ the Thane told him, ‘then I will. My friend, we need a miracle. You may wish to spare your friend’s feelings, but as yet you do not know the full scope of the danger we all face. You see only the prospect of a civil war that we cannot win. But consider: the Elf Kingdom, for all its faults, has also been of great benefit to those of Faeriekind who do not live within our borders, and those lands populated by Men and Dwarves as well. By our very presence do we keep the evil creatures of the North from the more temperate Southern climes, in which they would thrive; their numbers would soon increase exponentially.