Comprehension caused her eyes to widen. "But I forget! She is but half of what makes up the world of magic. The evil the Demon King represents is the other. If we were to slay the Demon King, evil would have no emissary, no connexion to our world . . ."
Her features became suffused with sudden dread. "Mother, preserve us! The Burning Lands!"
Anest didn't need an explanation of her mood. He knew only too well.
"There must be other such places as this! Your Earth Mother is not confined solely to the Marshes of Morag! Places like this will be scattered everywhere, all over the world! This must be where He means to attack the north! And with the Earth Mother gone, the terrene world is no longer anathema to Demons!
"Much becomes clear to me now: why the Demons are able to withstand the light of day; why evil itself is ascendant in the world; why Morlock was able to resume corporeal form; why goblins, gnomes, trolls and other creatures are suddenly unified in purpose and steadily increasing in number; why evil is so able to conceal its doings, even from the Wise.
"Lily, I do not think the attack upon the Earth Mother began here, for these doings precede your presence upon this earth in your present form. Rather, I think things must have ended here." He considered the Marshes for several long moments, remembering how it had once been. "How mournful and empty this place now is! I came here seldom, but well recollect the pristine beauty of it. There was, about the crystal, redolent air, a sense of trembling, ethereal beauty and innocence;