‘Have we not utterly rid our surrounding lands of the Goblins that hunt our friends, the deer and the elk? Do they dare enter the Forest, even under cover of the darkness that is their demesne? Do they dare raise their brackish voices in our lands, in confidence that they may dwell here with impunity?
‘They come here seldom now, never to hunt, for fear of giving their presence away; they dare not come near to the forest, they whisper only at need, and they skulk about on their dark business, all too aware of the unlikelihood of their leaving our lands as living beings.
‘We are,’ he concluded, ‘the true Masters of this land. It is ours, for we know its ways, and it accepts us. This acceptance is the Earth Mother’s gift. She Herself has smiled upon us, when we thought ourselves alone in the world, abandoned and unloved. My friends, we must fight the Enemy, if only for Her sake.’
The others were silent for some time, very much moved by the last part of Olwynn’s speech. But still, there were some who shifted uneasily, unwilling, reticent, and not easily swayed by words.
‘What sort of aid would we give?’ asked Tam. He was the most renowned of their archers, and much of the planned strategy in battle would inevitably fall to him.