It was one thing to resist a lord’s command, but another, to ignore a child’s plea. So Orvald went to the elf. When he saw him, he forgot for an instant who or what he was, or had been, and saw only pitiable suffering. The troll nursed the elf-captain as best he could to ease the death that was inevitable.

He cleansed the elf’s wounds and bound the crippling injury in sinew and bone. He salved the raw marks on his back. But the elf was less alive than dead. As the human child sat beside him and talked to him, he would rest his hand on the boy’s knee–but his glance was dimmed and to the many childish questions asked, he did not reply.

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