Leather boots\ntramped on wood. Cloaks rustled in the night wind. Mist clung everywhere, like\na delicate spider\u2019s web of a million threads. Vines creaked and unraveled to\nreveal a small room, big enough only for one person. The room was bare,\nfurnished with nothing but a chilling temperature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dilmir entered\nthe room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou will be\ntried in the morning,\u201d said the gruff voice of one of the elves. And then the\nvines wove themselves together, and the icy air closed in on Dilmir. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dilmir sat. He\nstretched out his magic, but it met an invisible barrier which it could not\ncross. He had expected that. He closed his eyes, and remained thus for some\ntime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After what might\nhave been minutes, hours, or days, Dilmir looked up. He saw a small window set\nhigh in the door, its surface shimmering with the enchantment that made it. He\nstood and looked out of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His memory had\nserved him correctly. Even in the dark, he thought he knew the path that the\nelves had taken. Before him, separated by a raised portion of the root, was\nIlrin\u2019s house. Further, Ilrin\u2019s room lay directly ahead, and, standing in the\nmiddle of it, looking out of her window, was Ilrin herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a long time,\nthe two of them simply watched each other. Neither moved, neither tried to say\nanything, though words would not have been heard in Dilmir\u2019s cell anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ilrin\u2019s look was\nhard to fathom. Dilmir had heard her speak often of seeing worse elves in those\ncells, brought from across the land. And now Dilmir was there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dilmir could\ntell that her face showed deep thought and confusion, amongst other things, but\nabove all, it showed fear, fear of him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ilrin turned\naway, and left his sight. Dilmir sat back down on the cold floor and rested his\nhead on his arms, his eyes closed against the world. If every elf in all of\nFeylund were turned against him, he knew he wouldn\u2019t mind, as long as Ilrin was\nstill with him, and believed him to be as normal as they. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why didn\u2019t you tell me? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dilmir knew why\nhe hadn\u2019t told Ilrin. Through all of his seven years here, the thing he had\nmost wanted was to be seen and treated as a normal elf, as though he had no\nstrange power that he couldn\u2019t control. And throughout every one of those seven\nyears, Ilrin was the only elf who truly believed in him. He hadn\u2019t told her who\nhe was because he knew that if he had, she, too, would be turned against him,\nand he would have to face his identity. He hadn\u2019t told her because he didn\u2019t\nwant to face the truth, because he wanted to forget what couldn\u2019t be forgotten.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n What have you done, Dilmir?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But now, every\nlast support was gone, every single thing that Dilmir had ever used for an\nexcuse had fled from him, and now he had to face what he had hidden from for\nhis entire life. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Leather boots tramped on wood. Cloaks rustled in the night wind. Mist clung everywhere, like a delicate spider\u2019s web of a million threads. Vines creaked and unraveled to reveal a small room, big enough only for one person. The room was bare, furnished with nothing but a chilling temperature. Dilmir entered the room. \u201cYou will … Continue reading Chapter Fourteen – The Chill of a Cell<\/span>