‘Mistakenly thinking that he had been found out, he then made his final mistake. Thinking to win Bellandor over, he said, “Brother, I have learned a thing, a way to increase our Power immeasurably, by working it through others, though I have not yet been entirely successful.”
‘“Through others?” Bellandor replied faintly in dismay.
‘“Yes,” his brother replied, mistaking Bellandor’s reaction for interest, “in the same way that you use Staff and Stone; and therein lies their limitation. They cannot think for themselves.”
‘Bellandor was appalled, trying to fathom the enormity of what his misguided sibling had done. “Such a Power . . .”
‘“Is Ours alone, and not the impotent toy these weak-minded fools have fashioned.”
‘Bellandor was crushed by this revelation, as he had only himself to blame for ignoring the inevitable and overwhelming consequences such awful Power would inflict, turning the temptations of power into an irremediable addiction for which there was no cure. This addiction had led to his brother’s fall, and the subsequent perversion of the unlucky Elid-hranin. He realized, too, for the first time, that the Goblins and the Elid-hranin were one and the same.
‘And now, he would have to stop him.