“Are you thinking about...?”
Ishak-Ghalam slightly nodded. “Indeed”, he sighed. “The Black Cornflower. I am afraid that Belhagard's followers are here among us, hidden, in disguise”.
“And how might that be? They never managed the feat of getting into Lothriel over millennia!”
“Surely something changed. Inexplicable things are happening, Helewen”.
“Unfortunately, I know too”, I agreed. “I also have a secret to share. In the treasure chamber... gold inexplicably was blackened, as though oxidized”.
Ishak-Ghalam looked even more anxious. In his eyes I could read a profound affliction for the possible doom of our blessed realm.
“Do you know, Helewen, what might happen if the cult of Belhagard managed to sneak into Lothriel?”
“The last stronghold of science, light, and civilization would
