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Their raiders descended from the mountain refuge, and from the upland hiding-places came their bands. Therefore we resolved to end for all time the little people.
Yet we came to the others, the green ones without cities, taller and stronger than our greatest man. Few are their numbers, but they fight as though they were many. Several were slain as being of no account, some were killed as beasts of no worth, and now they make common cause against us with the little ones in the mountains.
With magic, we fight and do battle by sorcery, but this war will not be won easily.
- from The Writings of Thure Hezim-dher collected by Ammerlyn
They waited now for the rest of the Asbalnian magicians to arrive. As they waited, they discussed matters.
“Is this barrier similar to that within the Icarian pass, Old One?”
“Similar, but different, Milord Guardian. That in the Pass was an unnaturally strong of one such as we commonly use in Asbaln. This one is distinctively Hygerian and differs from all we know.
“It is said by Ammerlyn, the Wandering Wizard, that such barriers as we use disturb the borders of space and time, so that whoever would win through to the central crystal must fight against things of a strange and dreadful nature. It is also said that a form of it was used among the Arkh-bazd Whazar as a test for chieftainship; a man who could win through to the center was worthy of being followed.”
“What can you tell me of the Arkh-bazd Whazar? They are but names to me, but names I have heard often.”
“In the Icarian Hills, and in some tales of the Lowlands, you will have heard of the Bowmen in the Iron Coats. They were the Arkh-bazd Whazar. They came to these lands from afar, and were mostly destroyed in their war with the Dwarfs of the Mountains, who allied at last with the Other People. The Other People you will know as trolls. “
“Trolls? in war? They are but animals!”
“That is a part of the story. You know that our ancestors fled to the land east of the Mountains when the Old Island died in the Night of Fire. They settled in the midst of the people who already lived there, the Derrakos who were skilled hunters, and did not stay long in one place. These hunters formed an implacable hatred for the farmers, for they feared for the survival of the game, which was their livelihood. And certain of the farmers gave them further cause, placing homesteads on certain sites where the hunters were known to camp, taking them by right of force.
“So it was, raid and skirmish and uneasy truce, until the coming of the Bowmen in the Iron Coats. They made war on the Dwarfs Who possessed all of this plain on which we stand. By arms they were driven to take refuge in the mountains, but they raided fiercely into the lowlands, causing the Bowmen to resolve to exterminate them.
“They ran afoul of the Other People, who dwelt on the lower slopes, without towns or cities, and in their arrogance, they treated them as they had the Dwarfs. In this manner, they drove the two races into common cause, and thus allied, they proved bitter foes to the Bowmen.
“They therefore sent a small force around the Mountains by ship, to attempt an attack from the rear. Yet their arrogance betrayed them once again, and they pillaged and slew both farmers and hunters for their supplies. It was then that Icar, of whom you will have heard much, gathered a force of both hunters and farmers and defeated that host of the Bowmen.
“Then, foreseeing what the end would be to the conflict over the Mountains, he led all who would follow him into the Hills. The Derrakos withdrew to the Swamp, and the only ones who remained upon the plain were certain of the more stubborn farmers who inherited the land after all was done.
“For in the last stages of that war, both sides let loose wizardries and sorcerous weapons better not used, until at the last, the Mountain Allies blasted all this plain with a magic fire which is called the Little Sun. Town, city, and village were destroyed, the plain was blackened, and the Arkh-bazd Whazar no more.
“Then came the Dwarfs from the Mountains to look upon their homeland. Seeing the blackened desolation and blasted ruins, they turned their faces in grief to the Mountains, whence they have not come again. The Other People, greatest and least, went insane, and have been as beasts ever since. Some say it was a punishment of the High Powers for using such dread weapons, others say that the great evil they had wrought overbore their peace-loving souls.”
By now the rest of the Asbalnian magicians had come, singly and in small groups, and they discussed just how and in what manner they were going to work. At last, they came to a consensus of agreement, and prepared to work.