“Restrain him! Easterner in my country, I’ll see that he hangs!” Aria yelled as the cardinals dove into action.

One of the Northerners, a short woman of medium skin tone, shoved me to the ground as she ran to the aid of the of the man Taurus bit. Meanwhile, the elf was moving and moving fast. In a flash faster than my eyes could follow, he drew a sword from the belt of one of Aria’s companions and razed it against the throat of the nearest northerner.

He leaped forward and dove under a dozen grabbing arms. The Cardinals were fast, but Taurus was faster. In under two paces, his blade gleamed red as his teeth. I scrambled backwards several steps, trying to steer clear from the stomping feet and spinning blades.

Somewhere behind me there was a sharp snap, like someone had struck a metal rim with a wooden stick. The sound made my heart leap, and my head spin with vertigo. None of the others appeared affected, but Taurus faltered, his free hand rising to his chest like someone was trying to rip out his heart.

His eyes flashed dangerously as he turned in the direction of the noise. I couldn’t see what he saw, not from the angle I was looking from, but I didn’t need to, there was someone there. “Nirvae,” Taurus growled loudly in retaliation. Somewhere in his line of sight there was a loud snap followed by an anguished scream.

For a moment, it appeared like he would get what he wanted, although what he wanted wasn’t exactly clear to me. Freedom? Malice? War? In that moment, he could have had all three, and it was terrifying. He lunged outward and wrapped his arm around the the throat of the first person he could grab. It was the woman who pushed me to the ground, she was younger than the rest, less than a hand full of years older than me.

Taurus dropped the sword to the ground and promptly replaced it with a knife held at the woman’s throat. “Give me the flute,” he demanded, his large orange eyes flashing with malice. “Don’t let another of your own die for something like this. There are already so few of you as it is.”

Aria stood undaunted, her dark eyes set and her shin leveled with the ground. Her skin glowed a deep red that rivaled rose petals, or blood, and for a moment she moved her head to one side like Taurus was just another life curiosity she could figure out later. “Drop the knife, elf. Do you really want to get into this with me?”

“Test me, Anthran. I dare you.”

I wanted to drag myself to my feet, but I feared that the motion would attract unwanted attention.  Aria leaned her weight onto one foot, and let an easy smile roll onto her lips. “Alright then. You made your decision.”

If I thought Taurus was fast, it was nothing compared to the Anthran majorette. In the time that it took to yank back the head of his hostage, she had drawn her swordand collapsed his knees out from under him, causing both elf and captive to fall to the ground.

The girl in Taurus’s arms took the opportunity and rolled out of his reach. Aria paced around carefully, her right hand traveling up to her shoulder where she unclipped the chain that held her cape. The mass of dark fabric fell to the ground behind her, though it was uncertain whether she did it because she was gloating, or because she was expecting a fight.

Taurus didn’t stay down long, and to my normal human eyes, he didn’t even appear to stay down at all. As soon as he hit the ground, Taurus was moving, using his arms like an extra set of legs to propel him forward into Aria. The two of them went flying backwards into the ground.

Whether the rest of the Northerners were afraid or were too busy with their wounded to help, I wasn’t sure, but either way, none of them moved to assist their leader as she twisted under the elf’s iron grip. Well, all except for one.

Briar also shed his cloak, leaving his arms free and nimble to move. His knuckles were white around the hilt of his sword as he ran over to drag Taurus off Aria. Taurus growled another word in his foreign tongue and threw his hand outward. A flash of energy appeared to roll of the elf and sent Briar flying backwards. The section leader landed in a tree to my right, and he hung limply from one of the lower branches, unmoving.

I scurried to my feet while the others were distracted. Briar’s form rose and fell with uneasy breaths and as I approached he raised his head.  “Are you alright?” I asked as I assisted him to the ground.

Despite both our best efforts, he fell to the dirt in a hard pile. The section leader winced and drew in a shallow breath. “I’ve been better,” he admitted. “But I’ve had worse.”

Over in the battle, Aria had managed to dislodge Taurus with a swift, two legged kick to the stomach. If the elf felt any pain from it, it didn’t show. He hurriedly grabbed his case, which had fallen to the ground in the skirmish, and turned his back on the Northerners. It soon became fairly obvious that he aimed to run.

The rest of the border patrol appeared to snap out of their daze. Apparently battle was foreign to them, but they did understand running away.  Despite his speed, they easily caught up with him and dragged him off his feet. It took four men to hold him down, and they were all trying desperately to stay away from his teeth.

The girl from earlier, the one who momentarily been taken captive, picked a sword up off the ground and approached the group slowly. Aria got to her feet slowly and followed behind. Several locks of dark hair had fallen from her braids into her face. I gave Briar a look, and he nodded that he would be alright without me.

In a daze, I rose to my feet and followed the Northerners. Most of them ignored me, or at least acknowledged that I wasn’t the main concern at the moment. “Laora,” Aria addressed and placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Do you wish to reap justice for the suffering of Antone?”

The name didn’t mean anything to me, but the girl’s face dropped and she offered the majorette a small nod.  “He will survive,” she whispered. “But some scars do not heal.”

Aria nodded and turned to the rest. “This man, an acclaimed descendant of the enemy territory, has come into our home. He has crossed the border, he slew our people and afforded danger upon the rest. According to the law of our people, he is sentenced to immediate execution by one of the kin he has harmed, and if none step up, by executioner.”

Laora raised the sword in two hands above her head. Aria’s lips set into a hard line, “Whenever you are ready,” she whispered.

My foot started tapping anxiously against the ground.

The girl reminded me of Aldyth the moment her brother died. She would have killed anyone involved with his death, and this girl would now.

The blood started racing in my ears, and I could feel my heartbeat pulsing in rhythm with my tapping foot. Deep booms, unlike anything I had ever heard before charged the air. I left my heart beating in the earth behind me as I forced one boot in front of the other. I didn’t know what to think about Taurus in that moment, but I did know one thing. He had saved us when no one else would. Ulterior motives or not, I owed him that much.

One by one, the cardinals appeared to notice something strange in the air. I continued walking forward, the deep bass sounds echoing so loudly, that I knew the others could hear it too. I clicked a smooth accompanying rhythm on my tongue. It came naturally, like I had been doing it all my life. Several jaws dropped.

The girl looked up at me momentarily, and seemed to comprehend that I was trying to stop her. She raised the sword swiftly over her head, but before she could let it drop, I willed the bass sound to grow louder and sharper than it ever had before.

The ground shifted violently, sending everyone but me scrambling. Laora was knocked to her feet, the sword landing several feet away. “Not like this,” I whispered.

Aria’s eyes turned to me, there was something new evident in them, like a cross between wonder and fear. “Brajé,” she voiced.

I tipped my head to one side and nodded. “Let him live.”

“It is not your call.”

Suddenly I felt a presence behind me, and I looked to find Briar limping over to my side. “We need him alive,” he announced and winced every time he moved…anything. “If we can get him to share information with us – at the very least we need to know why he’s here. And he can only tell us those things if he is alive.”

The girl reached for the sword, but glared and the ground tremored again.

Aria thought for a second before nodding. “Fine,” she whispered, yet her voice carried. “He lives for now.”

Suddenly, there was yelling from the other side of the clearing. I turned to find Simon running out of the forest like something was chasing him. “Kill him, don’t kill, whatever you choose, just do it now,” he gasped out between breaths.

Briar grabbed him by the shoulder, then let go just as quickly with a painful grimace. “What’s wrong?”

“Encore has been alerted of the proceedings here.” He leaned forward and ducked his head into his chest for a two count, and when he raised it his eyes were narrow with fear. “She approaches to collect her quarry.”

Aria turned to the Cardinals and yelled like the storm, Sivena. “Collect your wounded and move out now! Someone ride out ahead and send a new border patrol, you know what happens if she gets here. Head for Scendo, protect each other. You have all fought this battle before and now you will have to do it again.”

The camp erupted in a fury.

“I don’t understand.” I turned to Briar who looked like he was going to be sick on his shoes. “What’s Encore?”

“Death,” he replied uneasily.

“Like your snow storm or…”

“No, Death. Literal Death. Physical Death. Encore is the reaper of Death. The embodiment of Death, and once she finds you--”

“Let me guess, there is no turning away from death.”

“Ah, so you do have common sense.”

A/N

So this was a nice relaxing chapter after that last one. Eli earning back any brownie points yet? And this crazy blood lust, must be something in the water, yeah? Give me any theories you have on these three new names we learned today.

Encore. Laora. Antone. Do you think they'll be important or bypassers? Do they sound familiar?

*holds up menacing weapon* gimme your thoughts.