Dilmir did not\nlearn what fate had befallen Alfimir until the following morning. Elmir,\nbreaking his usual code of silence, informed him that Alfimir had been\nsentenced life-long banishment from Eld\u2019rin and the laws of the elves. He now\nhad as much status among them as a beast of the forest, albeit a very powerful\none. The news troubled Dilmir. He knew that Alfimir would not be permitted to\nset foot again in Eld\u2019rin, but he still could not see why he had attacked him\nin the first place. Now that he was no longer subject to the laws of the elves,\nhe could very easily attempt to kill him again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFocus, Dilmir,\u201d\nsaid Elmir dryly. Dilmir wrenched his mind from his thoughts and turned them\ninstead to the flame he was supposed to be conjuring. It was not proving as\neasy as Alfimir had made it look the night before. In order for the flame to\nlast any amount of time, it needed something to burn. Nearly anything would\nsuffice, as magic could easily ignite it. Once a flame was born, Dilmir was\nsupposed to expand it and fling it at Elmir, who would block it. Getting the\npiece of earth he was using to ignite was proving troublesome however. The\nbrown speck simply sat in his hand, a little warm, but far from bursting into\nflames. Dilmir automatically glanced sideways to see if Ilrin had mastered the\nspell yet, forgetting temporarily that she was not there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had met him in\nthe morning as usual, only to hurriedly tell him that she had been called\nbefore the council to explain what had happened last night. She had been gone\nfor nearly five hours already, and Dilmir couldn\u2019t see what could be taking her\nso long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her absence was\nproving to have unexpected effects. Her trainer, a young elf woman by the name\nof Iliadin, was passing the time by watching Dilmir and Elmir train. She wasn\u2019t\nthe only one, either. News of last night seemed to have spread uncommonly fast,\nso that many elves were looking in Dilmir\u2019s direction. Between that, and\nAlfimir\u2019s ominous statement of the night before, he was finding it difficult to\nconcentrate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as he was\nbeginning to think that Ilrin must have gone home, rather than pick up her\ntraining when it was almost finished, she appeared in the gateway, walking\nquickly towards Iliadin, who rose when she saw her. The two of them conversed\nfor a moment, though Dilmir could not hear what was said, and then split apart,\nevidently preparing to train. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All thoughts\nwere forced from Dilmir\u2019s mind as the speck of dirt in his hand suddenly\nignited, expanded, and exploded, throwing him off of his feet. Elmir did not so\nmuch as twitch a muscle, but remained looking on while Dilmir got back up,\nrubbing his signed hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe trick,\u201d\nsaid Elmir, \u201cis to constrict the dirt with magic, and then<\/em> feed it energy. Together, the two will ignite it, but not\nseparately.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dilmir nodded,\nand plucked another grain of dirt from the ground. Focusing on it, he tried to\nplace a sphere of magic around it. The magic proved slippery and hard to\ncontrol; No matter how much he pushed, the magic always slipped out somewhere\nelse. After several long minutes, Dilmir, growing frustrated, smashed down on\nthe grain of dirt with all the power his mind could conjure. In an instant, it\nvanished. Confused, Dilmir released the pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A gigantic fireball,\nmuch taller than Dilmir, exploded into existence. Elmir\u2019s eyes widened and he\nbacked away as it rapidly filled the small field where they practiced. Dilmir,\nstunned at what he had done, fell backwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In another\ninstant, however, the fire had gone, its energy spent, nothing remaining for it\nto burn. A few smoldering pieces of grass were all that was left in its wake.\nElmir climbed slowly back into the bowl of grass even as Dilmir got up. Both\nwere considerably blacker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dilmir noticed,\nout of the corner of his eye, many elves watching him. His entire life at\nEld\u2019rin had been spent trying to make sure they took as little notice of him as\npossible. First he was attacked by Alfimir, and now he had nearly managed to\nblow himself up. Things were not going well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Elmir silently\nscoured the soot first from himself, and then from Dilmir. \u201cThat was better,\u201d\nhe said when he had finished. \u201cIt often takes several weeks to perfect the\nspell. Try again.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the\ncircumstances, Dilmir doubted the safety of this suggestion, but obediently\ndrew another piece of dirt from the ground at his feet and turned his thoughts\ntowards it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly an hour\nlater, and Dilmir, diligently keeping his power in check, had not managed to\nlight the dirt on his palm again. Oddly, he was finding it more and more\ndifficult to control his magic. It seemed to slip out of him at random moments,\noverdoing whatever spell he was trying to cast at the time. It took all his\nconcentration just to keep it from bursting out of him in one giant wave of\nforce. Afraid that he might trigger a reaction, he was using less and less\nmagic each time, with the result that Elmir finally told him to move on to a\ndifferent spell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEnough,\u201d he had\nsaid. \u201cYou can continue your work tomorrow. For now, let us turn to something\nelse. As you know, spells are based on speed. The more complex the spell, the\nlonger it takes to form it. Creating a fireball, once you have the technique\ndown, is relatively fast. Growing a tree, however, is not quite as easy.\u201d Elmir\nheld up between his fingers a small nut. \u201cCause this to grow to my height from\nwhere you stand, and then to fall back to this form.\u201d He held up the nut so\nthat Dilmir could see it clearly, and then placed it on the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dilmir did not\nmove, but remained staring at the nut for a moment. He had not expected to be\nasked to grow trees until much later in his training. He had heard it was very\ncomplex, and very difficult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tentatively, he\nstretched his magic towards the nut, feeing its parts, the way it split apart\nas it grew, and where the roots came from. He then began formulating, one by\none, an enchantment to cause each stage of the growth to occur quickly. He was\ncareful to not miss anything, and went over it twice. Only when he was sure\nwhat the spell would do, did he begin to weave the enchantment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So focused was\nhe on the design of the spell, that he forgot to limit the amount of power he\nlent to it. Steadily, the stream of magic grew and grew, feeding into the\nspell. When the spell was fully wrought, Dilmir confidently let it pass from\nhis hand, sure that had done everything correctly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With a loud\nhiss, the spell, a glowing orb of green light bigger than Dilmir\u2019s head, sped\ntowards the nut, which it smote, leaving a small crater in the ground about it.\nIn the next instant, the nut split apart, carried aloft by its own rapidly\ngrowing stem. Massive roots wounds themselves into the ground, bark feathered\nonto the green tendrils that soared skyward, and leaves sprouted seemingly from\nthin air. Taller and taller the tree grew, stretching rapidly for the sky,\ngrowing wider as it did so, until it finally slowed to a halt roughly fifty feet\nfrom the ground. Dilmir looked up. Where he had stood but moments before was\nnow the center of a fine oak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A sudden silence\nfell over the training field. Dilmir was painfully aware that even the master\nmages would have difficulty causing a tree to grow so large so fast. Looking\nabout, he saw every last elf in the field staring at him. Their faces showed\nwonder, perhaps confusion, but behind all of their eyes was one thing in\ncommon: fear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The one face\nDilmir sought, however, was Ilrin. She stood a little ways away, looking at him\nlike all the rest. There was no fear in her eyes, however, only a deep\nconfusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Elmir stepped\naround the tree, gazing up at it. \u201cBring it down,\u201d he said simply, glancing at\nDilmir. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dilmir\nobediently turned, and began to weave another spell. Unsure how a tree ungrew\nitself, since it never happened, he simply wove a spell that would undo\neverything his first one had done. He worked feverishly, aware of many eyes\nupon him, and released the spell a little too hastily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortunately, it\nworked exactly as Dilmir had hoped it would. Quickly, the tree began to shrink,\nthe leaves furling into its branches which sank into its trunk. The bark faded\ninto a soft green vine, as the roots jerked back up through the earth, and\ntucked neatly into the nut. When the spell was finished, all that was left was a\nthin, wispy green tendril, just poking its head from the nut. The elves still\nwatched him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVery well,\u201d\nsaid Elmir, for the first time in the seven years Dilmir had known him, looking\nuneasy. \u201cYou are dismissed. Be back here tomorrow morning.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs ihr selenar\nimil, manithar,\u201d said Dilmir, anxious to get away. Even though it was still a\nhalf hour until noon, when the training usually ended, most of the other elves\nsoon left the field as well. Dilmir hurried to enter the gates before them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDilmir!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dilmir turned\ninto a tree and skidded to a halt within its carven hall. In another moment,\nIlrin came into view and ran up to him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow did you do\nthat?\u201d she asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d\nsaid Dilmir, automatically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou cast the\nspell, but you don\u2019t know how?\u201d said Ilrin. \u201cFirst you escape Alfimir by a\nmagic that not even he appears to know, and now you\u2019ve just made a tree grow\nfifty feet.\u201d Her tone softened at Dilmir\u2019s pained look. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d she\nasked, in a much quieter voice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d\nrepeated Dilmir, though this time with a sigh. \u201cI put too much magic in the\nspell just now, that I know; but I still have no idea how I escaped Alfimir.\u201d\nHe looked up. Her face showed only concern. \u201cIt\u2019s getting harder to control,\nIlrin,\u201d he said quietly, glancing around to make sure no other elves could hear\nhim. \u201cMy magic – I can\u2019t keep it in.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut you did\njust fine yesterday,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy would it be difficult now?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dilmir shook his\nhead. \u201cNone of this makes any sense. It\u2019s almost as if \u2014\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n He paused as the\nrest of the elves from the field surged into the tree, on their way to their\nhomes. In the throng he was separated from Ilrin, and swept towards his own\nhouse, pondering what had occurred. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBegin.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dilmir looked at\nthe trainer in surprise. He usually began the sessions with a long list of\ncriticisms and pointers. Today, however, he looked drawn and uneasy. Had the\nnews of Dilmir\u2019s spell really traveled that fast? He had only cast it two hours\nago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When the trainer\ncontinued to say nothing, Dilmir and Ilrin drew their swords, and took up\nstances opposite each other. Ilrin assumed a particularly tricky stance, one\nwhich left her seemingly unguarded, though she could strike in an instant if attacked.\nDilmir stayed with his usual defensive stance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Slowly, Ilrin\u2019s\neyes moved up and down Dilmir, analyzing the way he stood, how he held his\nsword, and the ways he could defend himself. Dilmir waited, knowing that she\nwould strike soon enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She struck\nsooner than he expected. Her eyes suddenly locked onto a point on his left\nside, and she lunged forwards. Dilmir smoothly slid out of the way, twisting\naway from her blade as it came darting forwards. He then snaked his own sword\ntowards her, managed to get it under her guard, and could almost taste his\nvictory when, in one deft movement, Ilrin whipped out of the way and rested her\nsword point against his throat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They both drew\nback, swords at the ready once again. The afternoon wore on, and time and time\nagain, Ilrin defeated Dilmir, though some bouts were very close indeed. The\ntrainer said very little, choosing to stand aside and watch the two of them\ninstead. Dilmir had the uncomfortable impression that he was watching him more\nthan the duel. To add to Dilmir\u2019s pressure, the same Dark Elf that had watched\nhim train two days ago reappeared, his eyes fixed on Dilmir\u2019s duels. He did\nnothing but stand by, watching intently, but after an hour or two, he was\njoined by another, and then a third elf. All wore the same black leather emblazoned\nwith a flaming tree stitched in red \u2013 a mockery of the council\u2019s insignia, and the\nsymbol of Eltuthar the Black. Their dark eyes watched Dilmir and Ilrin steadily\nas they dueled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After what\nseemed an eternity, the shadows began to lengthen, the sun fell with anguishing\nslowness to the horizon, painting the edges of the clouds with gold. The sky\nwas overcast with dark blue, which was in heavy contrast with the brilliant\nsunset. As Dilmir was defeated for what seemed the millionth time, he saw, as\nhe picked up his sword, the three Dark Elves turn, and melt into the shadows.\nAn uneasy feeling settled over him, though he couldn\u2019t say why. He turned to\nIlrin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Normally, she\nstood by while she waited for him to retrieve his sword, at ease and alert.\nDilmir knew he must have improved, however, because she looked nearly as tired\nas he felt. Her face was flushed, and several stray strands of hair clung to\nher sweaty face. She kept shifting her sword between hands, as though it was\ngrowing heavy \u2013 something that she had never done before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dilmir took a\nmoment to catch his breath, watching the sun as he did so. This would likely be\nthe last duel of the day. He flicked his sword to his side, and waited for\nIlrin to do the same. After a moment, she copied him. However, she seemed too\ntired to assume her normal scrutiny of his posture. After a pause, Dilmir began\nto search her stance for a weakness instead. He found one almost instantly,\nbut, aware that Ilrin was watching him, moved on to different points. Then,\nwithout warning, he struck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ilrin backed\naway, but she wasn\u2019t quite fast enough. Dilmir\u2019s sword just nicked her in the\narm as she drew back, but he could not hold her. She whipped around and brought\nher sword crashing down against his guard. Dilmir stumbled backwards against\nthe blow, but kept his footing. He ducked as she swung at his head, and darted\nhis sword under her guard, aiming for her exposed stomach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By some miracle,\nshe did not see him, and his blade struck. She let out a low hiss of pain as\nshe leapt away from his sword, whirling her own to prevent him following her.\nThen, without waiting, she leapt at him. The small nick Dilmir had given her\nseemed to grant her new strength. Dilmir backed away rapidly, doing his best to\navoid her blows, but he couldn\u2019t keep them all back. At last, acting more out\nof desperation than anything else, he rolled deftly to the side, righted\nhimself halfway through, and flicked his sword up to Ilrin\u2019s neck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ilrin stopped,\nher blade quivering an inch too far away from his own throat. Then, very\nslowly, a smile began to creep across her tired face as the last rays of the\nsun struck it. \u201cI knew you could beat me,\u201d she said simply. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dilmir did not learn what fate had befallen Alfimir until the following morning. Elmir, breaking his usual code of silence, informed him that Alfimir had been sentenced life-long banishment from Eld\u2019rin and the laws of the elves. He now had as much status among them as a beast of the forest, albeit a very powerful … Continue reading Chapter Seven – Changes<\/span>