For the first time in their lives, the unyielding faith the elves had in their great Mother Tree wavered. How could their deity allow this? Why hadn't the Mother Tree squashed the goblin threat the moment it appeared, instead of merely telling its followers of it and leaving it at that?
Had the Mother Tree forsaken them? Did it want them to fail?
The forest, which spanned nearly the entire continent from end to end, quaked, as if the Mother Tree could sense this doubt and was enraged.
But the response only made the goblins question the object of their worship all the more. If it could do something like this, then why had it not done so before? Why hadn't it stopped the deaths of their brothers, their sons, their fathers?
Why did they need to die? What was the Mother Tree's plan?
"They'll need our help," Morne said to no one in particular, striding off toward the goblins.
As Morne walked, he considered their odds.
