Tomas said nothing, regarding Gulamendis coolly.
‘We need you, and the humans and the dwarves. We need anyone who will resist the Demon Legion.’
Tomas said nothing for a long moment, then asked, ‘Why not simply explain this when you first came to us?’
‘I needed to . . .’ He paused, looked completely around the grove, then said, ‘This calls to me. It’s . . . powerful. I see you, Valheru, and fear, hate, and a dread all echo through my being. I thought. ..’ He paused, gathered his thoughts and said, ‘When my brother and I, and a few others, conceived of our plan, we knew we must quickly find those already on this world, our Home, who would unite with us should the Demon Legion come.
‘So you understand clearly, when you remember the days before the time of chaos, when the gods raged across the sky, and the Dragon Lords rose to challenge them, in that time the taredhel stood first among your servants.’
Tomas closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them to look at Gulamendis. ‘The eldar were our most trusted servants.’
The use of the word ‘our’ was not lost on the Demon Master. He said, ‘Acalia and his brethren are descendants of the librarians. They were stranded on . . .’
‘Kelewan,’ supplied Tomas.
‘Kelewan,’ echoed Gulamendis. ‘One of the Dragon Host abandoned them there. What they achieved was remarkable given their limited resources.
‘But we are the true Eldar. We were your housecarls, your ministers, your emissaries when you needed to negotiate with one another, and we were your lovers.’
Tomas closed his eyes once more and memories of the astonishingly beautiful elven females Ashen-Shugar kept near his throne returned. He nodded. ‘Yes, you were first among our slaves.’ There was a hard edge to his voice, and he didn’t fully understand why he felt the need to emphasize the elves’ position in relation to the Valheru.
Gulamendis’s eyes narrowed and his expression was even more defiant. ‘We are more than what we were, Tomas,’ he whispered with a tone full of menace. ‘I have no doubt that you could cut me down with your golden sword before I took a step. I will not contest that, but should you face a dozen of us in the field, you would be challenged. And we number in the thousands.’
‘A threat?’
‘No, a warning, perhaps not even that; let’s call it a courtesy. We do not come to you as lesser beings. We come to you as equals.’ He looked back at the grove and said, ‘We venerated those who had been granted responsibility for these groves. They were the most fundamental of us, those closest to the soil of this world and the very life-giving things nature offered.
‘But they were gardeners. Your Queen’s ancestors were gardeners, nothing more.’
Tomas said nothing for a moment, now fully understanding. ‘You view them as your inferiors.’
‘They are rustics. They are farmers and hunters and fishers of the sea, nothing more. Those are honourable crafts, but they do not define my people, or who we have become.
‘We were the scholars, the academics, the explorers, the crafters and weaponmakers.’ He pointed at Tomas’s chest. ‘That armour, that sword: my ancestors forged them for you. The devices that let you fly to other worlds: they were our invention.
‘How do you think we were able to flee during the time of madness and find safe haven on Andcardia? We built the translocation portals and we were the ones who took the tools and tomes, scrolls and books. The dragons carried you across the void to other worlds. We bowed to your might, because we could not command dragons to carry us, but we found ways to achieve what you achieved, and we did it without you!’ He looked back again at the grove. His voice softened. ‘And we took from here that which reminded us of our roots.
‘But we are not who we once were, and we have only returned here out of need. But we will take what is ours, without asking your leave.’
‘You present a troubling attitude, Gulamendis, if it is shared by all of your people.’
With a wry smile, the Demon Master said, ‘I am moderate in my views. The Regent Lord will look upon your wife as a threat.’
Tomas’s eyes narrowed as his anger rose and he said, ‘You do your cause little good. Let any threaten my Queen and they will know the extent of my power, Gulamendis.’
‘I am no threat. But you should know that there are others among my people who will see you as one.
‘We thought it would be fairly simple. We assumed the elves remaining on this world would ascend, as we have for thousands of years, and that any other race we chose to deal with would be of little consequence. Then my brother spent months exploring this land.’
Tomas said, it was your brother who was seen in the valley north of Dolgan’s holdings?’