Silent Symphony

Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Lot of Stabbing

Suddenly the chaos on the street returned with a fury. Men and women alike, each baring the coat of the East Cardinal flooded from the side alleys with their weapons raised high. I didn't get very far before I was intercepted by a red skinned woman with a sword. The flute shrill intensified.

    I didn't have any weapons. I didn't even have the time to draw my bow before the blade of her sword was at my throat. Her hand fisted into my hair, pushing the cold metal closer to my skin. "Nishint olaral he," she hissed. "Paka'a. Sheyvra -- " Her breath hitched mid-word and she fell to the dirt with a short barbed arrow hilt deep into her neck.

    Across the street, Hyde nodded at me. Cwen hung with her arms wrapped around her father's neck.

    I had not the time to give him my thanks before the battle whisked him away. And suddenly that's what this was. Not a just gathering, or a village of scared people holding their weapons for the slight hope of fighting. It was a battle now, a real one.

    The Cardinals flooded the village by the dozen, cutting down persons left and right. Some tried to chant the fitter ones into submission, but someone -- be it a parent, a child or a friend -- would always be there before they could be taken. Broken phrases hummed over the air like steam.

    Nishint olaral he. Paka'a. Sheyvra aquoi.

    A woman's scream echoed across the plaza as a Cardinal on horseback tore straight through her house. Her crying child, who had been dragged out onto the street by the soldier, was suddenly silenced as as the horses hooves came down on his chest. I drew my bow as the mother ran to the dying boy.

    I was about to take aim at the child killer when suddenly the woman stood; her spine was impossibly straight, her eyes aflame with fury. She yanked a spear from the body of a fallen enemy and heaved it with a strength that few would ever know.

    The lance forced its way straight through the rider's back and out his chest. He remained erected for a couple more strides before falling from his horse and landing on top of another man his people had killed.

    I lowered my bow.

    Individual battles roared in every direction. Blood spray filled the air, accompanying  the groans and screams that I knew would haunt me for a long while. Another soldier, a man this time, came at me with his sword raised. I ducked under his first swing and started running toward the houses. I reasoned, that if I lost him there, I could hide out long enough to find Aldyth and Taurus.

    I turned quickly and shot an arrow over my shoulder. All the motion and chaos threw my aim. I didn't have the time to see how far I missed by, because as soon as the fletchings left my fingers, I was running.

    "Twenty-four," I muttered under my breath before jumping over a Cardinal who had gotten her face bashed in by a woman with a shovel.

    "Twenty-three," I corrected as I shot down a soldier who was threatening a child with a knife. The arrow pierced through his boot, sending him toppling to the ground in pain.

    I always had twenty-five arrows ready in my quiver, and before now, it never dawned on me as to how small a number that was. I ran as quickly as I could, but bodies kept getting in my way, and I was down half my quiver before I traveled twenty feet.

    Suddenly a familiar voice roared like thunder over the crowd. I whipped around, searching desperately for the source of the sound.

    And then I saw her.