"Once when I was little she and my father bore me through the forest and through the hidden way.

I looked upon Ruszark--a great city it is and populous, and a caldron of cruelty and of evil.
"Not like me were my father and mother.

They longed for their kind and sought ever for means to regain their place among them.

There came a time when my father, driven by his longing, ventured forth to Ruszark, seeking friends to help him regain that place--for these who obey me obeyed not him as they obey me; nor would he have marched them--as I shall--upon Ruszark if they had obeyed him.
"Cherkis caught him.

And Cherkis waited, knowing well that my mother would follow.