"The heart of a human is like badly baked bread. Don't pay attention to it for a short while - and it's hard as stone."
(Staniak to Lindir, when he learnt of Passan's treason)
Passan's treason was an incident occurring when the army of Ilirea fought against the Dwarfs and their king Eflaim.
Background[]
Eflaim, a promising but bibulous dwarf, overthrew the dwarven king Herek, forcing him to resign and to appoint him as the new leader of the clan. Since then he was under enhanced observation by Ilirea. The grave concerns of King Lindir were proven to be true, when Eflaim provided refuge to Patakin and Zulian, who had plotted to murder the king. So he commanded his army, leaded by Passan, to attack the dwarven realm. Passan leaded his army to Beor, supported by his representatives Staniak and Gorgor.
The Treason[]
Although the approval rating for Eflaim amongst dwarfs was high, there were dwarfs that weren't sympathetic to his realm. So Passan now and then received renegades from the enemy. One of them was a dwarf called Zûk, who had an exceedingly long discussion with Passan. Passan than told Staniak that Zûk had very important informations that could help to take out Eflaim swiftly. So Staniak gave his superior a free hand to interrogate Eflaim on his own. But after a short while, Passan surprisingly left the camp with Zûk. Staniak, suspicious, wanted to follow them, but was convinced by Rogas that presumably Zûk wanted to show to Passan the weakest point of Beor's defences.
Staniak was alarmed when Passan and Zûk weren't back after six hours. Not yet scenting treachery, he feared that Zûk could somehow have managed to kill Passan and maybe even get rid of Argolit, his dragon. So he started to look for them on his own dragon Arcuyla, but didn't find them. The next day, they saw a dragon coming from Beor and wondered, for Eflaim's riders didn't use to fight at the forefront like this. When the dragon attacked, they recognized Argolit and then also Passan. So the fights continued for five more years.
The Reactions[]
King Lindir, a very close friend of Passan, was forced to act quickly and ordered that Passan would be put on the Black List, meaning that Passan was threatened with death penalty if they would get him. Staniak, a fierce elf, seemed not to be very surprised, judging humans as generally weak-willed and easily corruptible - even if he admitted, that he had thought Passan were a stronger specimen. Lindir also replaced Passan with Staniak, giving to him the task to vanquish Beor. His representatives were Elva and Gorgor. The footmen were commanded by Flaudr, Mimo's son. It took three years to win against the dwarfs from this point, because when they knew they would definitively lose in open combat, they retreated to their tunnels, barricading them.
The Solution[]
After Eflaim had been captured, the dwarfs soon started to cease to fight, although Akar, a dwarf responsible for the barricades, whipped them up to continue the battle. Passan came out of the tunnels, escorted by a dwarf called Oroim who waved the white flag. Oroim had some talk with Staniak, explaining him he just killed Zûk, who had, back then, pretended to change sides only to capture Passan by his true name, which he had detected. All the five years that he lived at Beor, Passan was under control of Zûk, not wanting to betray his friends but forced to do so. When Lindir heard this story, he decided that it should be impossible in future to dominate one's mind like this. Because even the strongest wizard would not have been able to cast such a spell alone, Passan, Staniak and Smaertiland bravely united their forces and casted the spell, which almost caused the already emaciated Passan to die. When he had recovered, the reconciled Staniak handed back his rank as Supreme Dragon Rider to Passan.