The plan for direct contact with Ardnech was Ominor's own idea. A month ago he had brought it up for the discussion of his advisers: the force calling itself Ardnech was certainly an unfortunate discovery for the East, although he was not considered a mortal danger. Ardnech appears to have appeared very rarely, perhaps never even, in his true form, if he possessed one. Usually Ardnech acted so gently and carefully that it seemed to his temporary master or partner that he acted of his own free will. Only the greatest sorcerers on both sides, and the senior leaders to whom they served as advisers, knew the extent to which the West owed its recent successes to Ardnech. Eager to strike a direct blow against this elusive enemy, Ominor laid a trap involving treachery, which was the logical continuation of his entire policy.