Yet there were many soldiers who had until now avoided being part of one mercenary army or another, and with the King’s lack of interest, they had been left in limbo. But when the King again seized the reins of power, they found themselves forced to make a choice.
Ironically, it was the Merchants who came to the support of the defectors, but doing so only to save their own fortunes, if not their own skins. That the Thane tolerated the Merchants’ presence in Mirrindale was only because they were useful.
Hitherto, for the King’s part, as long as the Merchants had remained in Mirrindale, and as long as the Thane appeared to be a useful ally, He was reluctant to strike out at Mirrindale openly, and civil war was avoided. He was not blind to the fact that the Merchants represented almost the entire wealth of the Elf Kingdom. Besides, the city of Mirrindale could only be taken at great cost.
Now, the battle-lines were drawn between a poorly organised army of defectors and those who blindly followed the King. The defectors had no effective leader; all possible candidates for this position, though effective leaders of soldiers in the field, had little or no grasp of the intricacies of state, commerce, or civil law and administration.