“Many, many years ago…,” he began, feeling foolish, but why bother explaining the Age of Spring, tens of thousands of years ago, to a child not yet four? “…the elves ruled this island that we now call Airlann. They were good rulers and just and everywhere was sun and warmth and bounty. The elves were the stewards of Magic, which made the world, and the tools it used were the Elements. The Elements were powerful and precious and needed to be kept safe, so the elves entrusted them each to a separate race. My people, the gnomes, looked after Earth and lived deep underground. In the seas and lakes and rivers, the undine watched over Water while high above in the sky the sylphs guarded the secrets of Air. And far, far below at the core of the world was the source of Fire and its keepers were the dragons!”

He gave the last word a wondrous quality and leaned in close to the girl, wiggling his fingers like some daft hedge magician. Blink was unimpressed. Deglan’s face withered. Faabar would have been better at this.

“The Elemental Guardians,” he continued, more subdued, “were allowed to govern themselves and each had a king or queen of sorts to lead them. The gnome king at this time was named Ghob, and Ghob was a right greedy bastar--that is, Ghob was greedy. He went to the elves and asked permission to delve deeper underground so that he might expand the holdings of the gnomes and make them richer, but the elves refused him, fearing he would encroach…I mean, bother the lands of the dragons. Ghob bowed his head and left the Seelie Court, that is what the elves called their kingdom, and he vowed to obey, but when he returned to his own kingdom he announced to the gnomes his plan to go against the wishes of the elves and venture deeper underground. Many of the gnomes were angry with King Ghob and called for his removal, and Ghob soon found himself an outcast without a crown or a throne. But there were those loyal to him, and in disgrace, Ghob took his few subjects with him into exile, sneaking away where the elves forbade him to go.