Pug made a gesture with both hands indicating the elf should continue. “I will spare you a long story of our struggles and say that at the height of our power, the Taredhel had risen to heights no elf living on Midkemia could imagine. We were rulers of worlds, Pug. But with such a change in our nature came a price—arrogance. Few of my race would admit to it, but having spent some time on this world, scouting and encountering…” He took a slow breath. “Before I returned to Andcardia with word that I had found Home, Midkemia, I killed a member of your race; a cleric I had captured and after I obtained all the useful information I could from him, I simply killed him to ensure no one would know I had been there. I know travelers who’ve ventured too close to E’bar have been murdered. I know the Lord Regent has ordered raids against farms and villages in the Free Cities, letting blame fall on our cousins, the Moredhel.”

Pug said, “This is disturbing news. Why are you telling me this if you know this will indispose me toward your people?”

“Because there are those of us within the Taredhel who do not agree with this course of action. Before I was born, all matters mystical, what you would have called priests, magicians, healers, and the like, existed independent of civil authority.

“Your friend Tomas is wed to the woman who we view as the unbroken connection back to the roots of our past, those elves primarily responsible for the cultivation and care of the holy groves, what we call the Stars. But real power for our people has resided with the Regent’s Meet and the Circle of Light.

“When we first encountered the demons, the Regent’s Meet ruled that all members of the Circle of Light had to sever ties with that organization and subject themselves to the rule of the Regent’s Meet or suffer the consequences, which were imprisonment or death, the latter being the more usual consequence.”

“For what reason?”

“Power. Pure naked power. The Regent has by tradition been forbidden to take the title King, because there always was this faint hope among the Taredhel that we would someday return here and reclaim the world.” Laromendis sighed and shook his head slowly, as if in regret. “We never expected this world. We thought we’d find one in ruins, or perhaps in a primeval state, or even one occupied only by other elves, and we would assume our rightful place as their rulers.

“We even imagined a world where the Valheru were still in residence, and we were prepared to fight for our freedom. We have evolved. You’ve seen the other elves of this world, Pug, and you know that we are larger, stronger, faster, and more ruthless. Our magic dwarfs any that the Spellweavers of Elvandar can hope to bring against us.