[Nevtalathiel]

Tumnaooriel was frozen to the spot with terror. Her legs shook beneath her, but she knew that if she could summon the mental and physical energy to move them, the strict bonds would no longer be there.

She was not free though. She knew she would never be free. Unbidden came again the image of the child on the bed, pushing itself to the front of her mind. Her eyes were clouded with tears for the evil she had not been able to undo. He had called out towards the end, for help, for peace, for rest and she had been unable to give him either. He had trusted her. Had lain quietly in her arms as she tried to ease the excrutiating pain she could not banish, tears rolling down his cheeks and there had been nothjing she could do. He had forgiven her. He was young and trusting. He had known her only to be good and kind, a healer of the sick, the one who had kissed him better when he had fallen, but she had not been able to save her own son even with the little magical skill she possessed.

She could not fight. she had never been a fighter. She had been a healer and now she was no longer that.