His lips twisted into a sneer. ‘The world ends and yet your pride must be salved. It is more important to you than life, the life of our people. You will not aid me because of harsh truths I once spoke. You are like a child, Aenarion.’

Aenarion laughed. ‘I have not said I will not aid you. What is it you seek?’

‘There is only one way to save our world. We both know it.’

‘You intend to put your plan into effect then, to sing your spells and try and banish magic from the world.’

‘That is not what I seek and you know it.’

‘Morathi says that will be the effect of what you do.’

‘I doubt your wife knows more of the ways of magic than I do.’

‘Now who is mad with pride, Caledor?’

‘The gates of the Old Ones are open. The winds of magic blow through them like a hurricane. They carry the energy that causes the humans to mutate and lets the daemons dwell here. Without that energy they must leave our world or die. This is truth. We have constructed a mighty network of spells to channel that energy, to drain it away, to use it for our own purposes. All we need do now is activate it.’

‘We have been over this a hundred times. Too much could go wrong.’

‘We are dying, Aenarion. Soon there will be none of us left to oppose Chaos. We have tried your way. It has not worked. The forces of Chaos are stronger now than they were the day you passed through the Flame.’

‘That is not my fault, wizard.’

‘No, but it is the truth.’

‘So you seek my permission to try your plan?’

‘No.’

‘No?’

‘We have begun.’

‘You dare to do this when I have forbidden it?’

‘You are our leader, Aenarion. We are not your slaves. The time has come for a last throw of the dice.’

‘I will decide when that is to be.’

‘It is too late for anything else, Phoenix King. If it is not done now, it will not be done at all. The forces against us will be too strong. Perhaps they already are.’

‘If you have decided to defy my will, why bother telling me?’

‘Because the daemons sense our purpose and try to stop us, and we do not have the strength to prevent them.’

‘So you want me and mine to protect you, in spite of your defiance.’

‘We are all one people. This will be the last stand of the elves. If you do not wish to be there, that is your choice.’

‘There will be other battles.’

‘No. This will be the last. If our spell goes wrong the fault lines beneath Ulthuan will be torn apart, the continent will sink, drowning our enemies. Perhaps the whole world will end.’

‘And yet you will still proceed.’

‘There is no other choice, Aenarion. You told me once that mine was the counsel of despair and that you would find another way to win this war.