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.
It was like a storm of hooves flying under the direction of a drunk god. Aldyth rode spear point of a small team of just under a dozen horses. Villagers scrambled away from the streets, leaving several Cardinals to fall alone under several tons of stampede. The harras parted the crowd faster that I wouldn't have believed possible if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes.
Aldyth guided Ashless away from the harras and Bethor followed behind obediently. I waved my arms over my head and she spurred Ashless in my direction, leaping easily over mangled bodies and one rather large potted plant that had gotten thrown into the brawl.
"Where's Taurus?" She demanded as the horses cantered to a stop at the edge of the road.
"I didn't have time to find him." I hurriedly swung up onto Bethor's back.
"We're leaving as soon as we find him," She fumed before yanking a spear out of the neck of a dead villager. "Arrows and daggers aren't that much good for us here."
"We can't just leave them," I protested. "They took us in, they --"
"There will be plenty of battle ahead of us. Don't worry about it, Eli." Aldyth flipped her grip on the spear.
I blew out through my mouth slowly, before adjusting my focus. "Barric and Ismay could be here. We need to fi--"
"They're not," she growled abruptly. "Just trust me."
"But we don't know that. We at least need to check -- "
"Eli," she hissed and twisted and glare at me. "We don't have the time to have this argument. I slipped around the main entrance to get here. They have no prisoners with them." And just like that, she spurred Ashless into a gallop before I could get in another word.
I bit my tongue to keep from yelling out at her. Bethor twisted his neck to look at me with out of the corner of his eye, as if to say, women, eh? I patted his neck gently before gathering his reigns up in my fists. For now, we had a truce.
Aldyth and I skirted the battles as best as we could. Several greencoats on horseback tried to engage us, but together the two us managed to avoid any major conflict.
Aldyth seemed like a totally different person as she road out ahead of me. Her spear flew fast and agile, and the soldiers soon learned to avoid her as if she were born on the battlefield. I was careful to keep a steady distance between us, too close and there was a possibility that she would cross me -- too far and the greencoats would key in on me. I obviously wasn't quite as stab happy as she was.
"Where did this come from?" I demanded after Aldyth had managed to skewer a female Cardinal to the ground. She was still groaning near Ashless's feet, but the spear had her pinned neatly through the stomach.
"What?" Aldyth asked as her horse circled the soldier once, allowing her to pull the shaft out of the ground. I winced at the sound of metal scraping against bone, but it didn't seem to bother her in the slightest.
I wasn't sure how to phrase the question I really wanted to ask. How could she just do it? The Cardinals were horrible, and they were attacking us...but they were still people. I hadn't managed so much as a kill shot, yet she was approaching it all like it was just another chore she wanted to get over quickly. There was blood smeared across her face and none of it was hers.
So finally I just said, "I think you've been holding back a lot of anger, Aldyth. I hope you get it all out now...we need to find Taurus."
I released another arrow. It completely missed its intended target, but the premise alone appeared to scare the soldier.
"Yes, we do!" Aldyth yelled back and ducked out of the way of a slashing sword. The blade flew an inch past her ear.
As if summoned by his name, a bright flash of orange-amber appeared across the street. "Taurus," I breathed.
His cloak was tied tightly around his shoulders and he had his sword gripped tightly in his left hand. The blade gleamed with red and almost shone brighter than the color in his eyes.
I turned to shoot another attacker in the leg before looking back to the elf.
His lope had always been smooth, but he was almost cat-like as he leaped across the crowd, swinging his sword with a delicate grace that was so subtle, it was obvious. And apparently Aldyth and I weren't the only ones who had noticed.
Several of the Cardinals stopped what they were doing and moved to approach Taurus cautiously. They came in from all sides, taking more care with him than they had done with an entire village of angry people.
"They're...skinnier. Aren't they?" Aldyth noted.
She was right. Of all the soldiers who had flooded the town, only the smallest of them came to approach the elf. They all appeared to be matching his stride, each step well placed, every movement, smooth. The battle continued on around them, but none of them -- including Taurus -- appeared to notice.
A man on the edge of the circle lowered his sword an inch and spoke. His words sounded like elvish, with a sharper enunciation of on the 'e's and 'ah's, but it was hard to make out. Taurus's jaw locked, and his long incisors flashed from his behind his lips. The tip of his sword also dropped an inch.
"What are they doing?"
"I have no idea," I murmured, unable to pry my eyes from the scene.
Suddenly one of the Cardinals yelled out and made an obscene gesture at Taurus. The elf's eyes flashed and in a movement almost too quick to see, he brought his lips away from his teeth and lunged.
A/N
Okay yay an update. (I always get the best inspiration to write when I should be doing my homework XD).
...so... Like? Yes? No? Why?
New cover above. I'll get bored with it at some point, so I'll always go back to the one sugarcrystals made me CX.