to run for your life. Others will not, for our legend has become less than a nursery-tale for mortals in this time, and as you know from your own experience in the World Above, many will not believe the evidence of their own senses . . . until it is far too late. And so it has been decided in Council that in order to protect the mortals from the consequences of their own folly, you will carry this warning to the Guardians, and instruct them to take steps to save the mortals under their care from this threat.”
“I— But— Wait—you know about the Guardians?” Eric floundered.
Again that look of amusement from Dharinel, as though he were greatly enjoying Eric’s discomfiture. “Once we knew them quite well, Bard, though undoubtedly they will have forgotten over the years. Humankind has always had its defenders, paladins of the Light. Some are great warriors, whose exploits are known to all: Launcelot, Roland, Beowulf. Others work in secret, for the knowledge of the forces that they fight would do as much harm to the mortals they choose to protect as those forces themselves. Once we fought side-by-side, brothers on the field of battle. Now they fight alone. But we remember those days, even if they do not. Tell them what you must to arm them against this foe, and warn them well.”
Eric sighed, knowing that babbling more questions would only irritate Dharinel when he was in a mood like this, and not get Eric anywhere. Neither Dharinel nor Kory had named the Unseleighe enemy that was causing all this trouble, but Eric knew that to do so in Underhill—and even in some places in the World Above—would be like shouting a warning of their intentions in the Unseleighe Lord’s ear. And it wasn’t as if Eric would be confusing his new enemy with some other Sidhe Lord trying to turn Manhattan into his own private fief.
“Do only that, send them fair warning, and nothing more,” Dharinel warned. “Do not let yourself be drawn into the battle against this opponent. It might well be that this is the very thing he looks for to complete his plans, and that your involvement could spell disaster.”
“I’ll remember that, Master,” Eric said.
Dharinel grimaced. “And you will follow your irresolute mortal heart despite anything I may say. I am finished here,” he said abruptly. A moment