The elf meets his ally and his enemy

The yapping of dogs could be heard for miles on a still night, and the shouts of men nearly so far. The elf knew his mountainside well enough that he could find his way without these. It was not until he reached the forest’s edge that he was truly blind.

The torches of Sir Egelric’s castle hailed the lordly fire in him at such distance that it was like seeing them with eyes, but it meant that the castle was no more to him than a few dozen points of light.

Between him and the door there was a broad darkness to be traversed, and stealing through it any number of men who might see him as a predator and treat him as prey. He could have heard their feet shuffling through the frosty weeds, but the sound of an arrow was scarcely faster than the arrow, and he would not have time to dodge.

But above those points of light, sharing a chamber with two tiny candle flames and one burning log, was a fire that illuminated his dark world from horizon to horizon like a radiant sun. The dogs and men could have fallen silent, the torches winked out, and his mountainside sunk into a plain – still he could have found his way to her, blind and deaf and crawling, his heart wide open to her light.

Though he had helped him through it all, he had never known where Vash found the strength to suffer through so many years of separation from Iylaine. Now that he had a wife, and now that he was separated from her, it was harder than ever to understand; and yet he too might be forced to find this strength for himself. He did not know whether the tie of blood would have any meaning to a woman, nor whether she wanted him at all. Perhaps the Mouse-​​girl had been wrong.

But he had waited as long as he could. He did not think he would die if he were forever kept at such a distance from her that he could hear only on still nights the barking of the dogs that guarded her; but nor did he think he could live.

A few moving points of light had been torches in the hands of men, but when the lights had been brought near enough to illuminate his blind eyes, the men had retreated in horror. He strode unheeding across the court like a sated wolf through a flock of sheep.

It was not until he reached the steps of the castle that he was met by a man who did not flee.

“What do you want here, elf?” It was the voice of the man who had stood between him and Cat’s body.

“I wish to speak with Cat.”

“You may not.”

“Then I wish to speak with the man Egelric.”

“He has nothing to say to you.”

The elf could hear Egelric inside, shouting at the man Ethelwyn. He remembered that the Mouse-​​girl loved Ethelwyn, and if there was someone who knew what the Mouse-​​girl thought, it must be he. What he could not know was whether the Mouse-​​girl knew what Catan thought.

“Is that what he told you to say?” he asked.

“It is,” the guard said.

“I shall wait.”

“He will not change his mind.”

“I think he will.”

He could hear the guard moving uneasily at the top of the stairs. He heard the sword shifting in its scabbard as the man laid his hand upon the pommel. He also heard the light footsteps of the man Ethelwyn approaching the door.

“He has changed his mind,” the elf announced.

“He – oh!” the guard cried as the door opened behind him.

The elf started boldly up the stairs, and the guard’s protest was cut short by some soundless gesture of Ethelwyn’s. When he reached the top, Ethelwyn stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm and whispered, “How are you? I went back to find you, but you were gone.”

“I am well. How is Cat?”

“Well in body. Very troubled in mind. I – ”

“I wish to see her.”

“You must speak to Sir Egelric. Hurry, now. I’m not supposed to talk to you.”

The elf realized then that he had an ally and an enemy both in this castle.

Ethelwyn led him down a short passage he had not quite forgotten, into the room he never would forget. It was here that Catan had clung to his arm as if she had already known she was for him. It was here that Egelric had held and hurt his wife.

The room was only a hollow space ringed with a few dozen points of light. Even at a distance he could sense Egelric in the middle of it, hailing him with a dark and seething fire.