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.“Wow,” breathed Pikel.“Bah! It’s nothing, elf,” Ivan growled, but when he pulled away from his supporters and tried to take a step, he nearly swooned from the pain and found that the leg would not support him.Danica was beside the dwarf in an instant, propping him with her good arm.“Come,” she said, straining a smile.“We will go to be tended together.”“Two old and broken travelers, eh?” chuckled Ivan.“Not as broken as the enemies we left behind,” Danica pointed out.She noticed that Shayleigh and Tintagel had not relinquished their frowns, and she nearly growled at them as she and Ivan walked past.“The dwarves are to be treated as allies,” Elbereth ordered, “for that they are, and let no elf consider them otherwise.”“By whose command?” came a voice from the side, which Elbereth recognized as his father’s before he ever turned to regard the elven king.“Have you taken command of the forces?” Galladel snarled, moving to his son.“Is it your right to choose our alliances?”Danica and Ivan stopped and turned to watch; Cadderly and Pikel didn’t blink, but Cadderly dropped a hand on Pikel’s shoulder to keep the dwarf calm as the elf king walked close by them.Elbereth wasn’t convinced that his father’s outburst was even worthy of an answer, but he knew that the trouble would only increase if he did not face Galladel then and there.“I did not believe we were in a favorable enough position to refuse offered help,” he said.“I never claimed to help ye, elf,” barked Ivan, wanting to put the whole thing back into a perspective that his dwarven sensibilities could accept.“Me and me brother came to watch over Cadderly and Danica, not yerself!”“Oo oi!” Pikel agreed firmly.“Indeed,” said Galladel, putting his glare upon one brother, then the other.“Do watch over Cadderly and Danica, then, and keep out of my people’s way.”“Father,” Elbereth began sharply.“And I will hear no arguments from you, elf prince of Shilmista!” Galladel shouted sarcastically.“Where was Elbereth when Daoine Dun was overrun? Where was my son while his people were slaughtered?”For the first time since he had met Elbereth, Cadderly thought that the elf prince looked very small.The young scholar looked past the elf, to Danica, and saw that a wetness rimmed her almond eyes.No jealousy came over the young scholar this time, for he shared Danica’s sympathy.“Go off again, if you so desire,” growled Galladel.“Then, perhaps, you will not be forced to watch our final moments, the destruction of our home.” The elf king wheeled about and disappeared into the brush.Elbereth stood long and silent in the deepening shadows.“They’ll not attack at night,” Tintagel offered to the companions, hoping to break the grim mood.“Darkness favors goblins,” Cadderly said, more to continue the conversation than to argue the point.“Not in Shilmista!” the blue-eyed elven wizard replied, forcing a smile.“Our enemies have learned to fear the darkness.They attack only during the day.Such was the case at Daoine Dun.” Tintagel’s voice trailed away meekly as he mentioned the fateful battle.Elbereth said nothing.He did not lower his face, refused to dip his proud chin, as he slowly walked away.The night was extraordinarily chilly for late summer, and Cadderly was allowed a fire far back from the front lines.He took up his light tube and the book of Dellanil Quil’quien and began his task at translating, determined to do what he might to help the elven cause.He became distracted soon after, though, by a night bird’s melodic cries a short distance away.A thought came over Cadderly.He placed the ancient book down and recalled the spell of silence he had memorized earlier that day.It was not an easy spell; Cadderly had known all along that casting it would challenge him.While he was glad that Dorigen had not appeared in Ragnor’s camp, he almost wished he had found the opportunity to take that challenge.“Why not?” the young scholar mused, and he slipped away from the fire, narrowing the light tube’s beam to better locate the bird.He recited the runes exactly, not sure of his inflections, but confident that he would omit no words from the prescribed chant.Several seconds passed; Cadderly felt a strange energy building within him.It gathered strength and urgency, called for him to let it loose.And he did so, uttering the last syllable with all the determination he could throw into his voice.He paused a moment.The night bird was suddenly silent; all the forest was quiet.Cadderly clenched his fist victoriously.He went back to the ancient book, feeling better about the role he might play in the coming battles.His enthusiasm was stolen soon after, though, when Danica approached his fire.The young woman’s lips moved in greeting, but no words came from her mouth.She looked about, confused.Cadderly understood, and he dropped his face into his hands.His sigh, too, could not be heard, nor could the crackle of the fire, he then realized.Grabbing a stick, he wrote, “It will pass,” in the dirt and motioned for Danica to sit beside him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]