[Rinfanawen]

The cold seemed to seep through Diera’s clothes as she sat watching the Elves. They had come not but hours earlier, and the Corsairs were ready. The Corsairs were crouched, weapons in hand, behind small snow banks off to the side of the ice. Diera smiled at the foolish Elves upon the cold, glass-like floor. They were walking carefully, but they did not know what lie ahead. Soon they would fall. The ice was fragile, more in some places than in others, and would break easily when stepped upon. This is what the Corsairs had in mind.

Her hat was firmly placed over her head. It covered her ears completely, for she much hoped to escape the cold. Diera knew the kind of affects it had on her, and she did not want any of them arousing at this moment. This time on the icy ground was quite irksome. She was very much impatient. She knew where the holes had been made, and yet the Elves seemed to be walking so slow towards them! Hurry up! her mind constantly spoke. Why must they be so sluggish now? She watched one Elf grow close to a hole they had made in the ice. He stepped, for what she could see, directly upon it, but it only began to crack. The Elf quickly picked up his foot and continued in a different direction. Diera moaned greatly.

The Elves stopped for a moment...a moment that seemed to be a lifetime of shorter, irritating moments. The Elves unwound long ropes from their packs. Diera laughed to herself as she watched the Elves tie ropes around themselves, thinking that it would keep them above the icy water below. I don’t know what they are thinking, she smirked in thought. This is better. They are only making us more successful! If one falls in, soon they will drag the next one in, and the next one, until all of them are beneath the water. What bliss!

She looked at the long sword in her hand. Its golden hilt glittered like diamonds in the sun overhead. “I might not get to use you after all,” she sighed, but still she kept it close in deep anticipation of when the first Elf would fall.