Round him were some ancient councillors.

In the body of the hall on either side of the dais were men in military array, guards without doubt though their only weapon was a black rod not unlike a ruler, if indeed it were a weapon and not a badge of office.
Yva, whose face had suddenly grown strange and fixed, began to detail to us what was passing in this scene, in a curious monotone such as a person might use who was repeating something learned by heart.

This was the substance of what she said: "The case of the Sons of Wisdom is desperate.

But few of them are left.
Like other men they need food which is hard to come by, since the foe holds the upper earth and that which their doctors can make here in the Shades does not satisfy them, even though they drink the Life-water.
They die and die.

There comes an embassy from the High King of the confederated Nations to talk of terms of peace.