Villains by Necessity Read Online Free PDF Page B

Druid, though now the best I can explain myself is as one who understands and can utilize the power of nature."
    "Really?" exclaimed Arcie. "Och, I might have guessed ... the mistletoe, the pets, the vegetarian stew..."
    "The way you walk through trees," muttered Sam.
    Kaylana ignored them and continued.
    "There are no more Druids existing in the world now, as you may know... all were slain in the last bloody wars before the Victory."
    "Seems to me I remember hearing of something like that. I were just a wee lad at the time, of course ..."
    "You weren't even born," scoffed Sam. "Neither was I. That was over a hundred and fifty years ago." Arcie grinned apologetically at him, and went on talking to Kaylana. "... dinna they all get snuffed by the forces of Darkness?"
    "I heard that they joined the Darkness, there at the end, and the forces of good had to destroy them," put in Sam.
    "You are both correct. We-they, fought on the side of Light when the Darkness threatened to overthrow the world, in the winter of the Wars. Then when the Darkness was in retreat, and the Light had pulled back to reform as well, the Druids stood away. They refused to help the Light any farther, to heal their wounded or guide them to the foe or turn the weather in their favor. We hoped the war would end in stalemate. Our old allies grew angry, but soon had the strength to push home their attack on the Dark. As the Darkness began to retreat, we joined its forces and fought against the armies we had once served. Though we tried to aid them, the Darkness did not trust us, for we had helped the Light; they called us spies, and killed us. The Light called us traitors, and killed us. The armies ran through our forests, shot our animals, pulled our plants, burned our forests, and turned our plains into blood-soaked battlefields."
    Her voice had softened with remembered sorrow, and the wildcat padded silently over to sit near her. She stroked its huge head gently.
    "But why did yer Druids do such? Turncoat as that, I mean?" asked Arcie, wide-eyed.
    "It has to do with what we believe, and what we are, as keepers of the Balance. What do you know of Light and Darkness, Barigan?" asked Kaylana, watching him. He shrugged. He'd never thought about it much.
    "Only of what I've heard," he answered, and told her of Mizzamir's explanation of...
    "Lime mints, he called them," finished the Barigan dubiously. "I weren't paying much attention ..."
    Sam shook his head. "No, it was something else ..."
    "I know what the Barigan means," inserted Kaylana.
    "Your Elf mage is typical. What he does not realize is that light and goodness overtaking the world is just as terrible as evil and darkness engulfing it."
    The two looked at her curiously. She picked up an empty wooden bowl and demonstrated. "Imagine that this bowl represents the existence of this world. Good and Evil, as your mage supposed, act as forces on the world." She rested the fingertips of a hand on the rim of each side of the bowl and wobbled it in gentle circles on the tabletop. "The forces are in conflict and harmony at once. You may not understand this, nor does the mage.
    But we of nature do. For birth, there must be death. For night, there must be dawn. For one man to be good, another must be evil. For someone to win, another must lose. This is the cycle of nature, the seasons... This is the way of life, the way of balance, and this is why we do not follow your philosophy of choosing the extremes of Light and Darkness as the attitude that guides our path of life.
    We are standing in balance, in neutrality, and we strive to keep the world this way. The magic and power of nature take their strength from the mingling and dilution of the forces of life and death. Good and Evil, as they are poured into this world from the dimensions of magic and react to each other.
    "That is why we fought on both sides, in struggle to maintain the balance. If darkness prevails ..." she pushed down on one side of the wobbling bowl.