I felt numb, maybe also attacked, but I couldn't be sure because the numbness was blocking all my feelings -- including the one of being attacked.

    It could have been the cold in my bones, or the hum of flutes in my ears, but deep down I knew it was neither of those things.

The time for sitting was over.  With the other two alone in my wake, I forced one foot in front of the other, and tried my best not to think. Thinking led to a whole barrel of emotions, that would lead me to all sorts of trouble, like anger, and fear...and regret.

Instead, I fled -- abandoning Aldyth to incur the wrath of the elf, a single shred of betrayal that would go unnoticed so long as I kept my head.

The sun started to hide behind the clouds as I traveled, causing the temperature to drop so dramatically, that it would have been comical -- but my jaw was shuddering too hard to laugh very much.

It was like the forest was punishing me for clearing my conscience. The cold cut through my clothes, and each movement was acutely vivid. I could feel my bones grinding against each other in their sockets, which in itself wasn't as painful as was the conscious recognition of the fact.

   The world felt grey as I dragged myself deeper and deeper into the woods. There was no real way to tell at that point. The clouds were grey, the world was grey, each breath I took was just another shade on the colorless spectrum.

And it hurt.

Maybe I was overreacting, but in that moment in time, I didn't care. Overreacting was a good thing, at least I wasn't sitting alone on the ground failing to make small-talk with the elf.

I reached my hand over my shoulder, and with some difficulty, I turned my quiver around so that it was hanging on my chest. After slinging my bow over my shoulder, I turned my attention to the state of my remaining seven arrows. Much to my dismay, two were bent and one was missing a head.

I cursed under my breath before stringing a bent one to my bow and shooting it off in anger. That left only four fully functional arrows in my magnificent arsenal of archery.

The shaft dinged off a tree, disappeared into the woods to my right. With a roll of my eyes, I moved my quiver onto my back and went after it. A dysfunctional arrow that didn't fly straight was still better than a perfect arrow that I didn't have.

My eyes scanned the brush-littered ground for the red-tailed hawk feathers that fletched my arrows. It should have stood out against the grey, sappy world, yet it was nowhere to be seen.

I kicked through a pile a dead leaves with the toe of my boot before crossing my arms and staring at the dirt. With a little patience, I could carve myself a new arrow. It could be fletched with the feathers of one of my broken ones, if only I had the flint to make the head.

It didn't occur to me that I would need to make arrows, so of course I neglected to get the correct supplies back in Hbéakut. As I searched through the underbrush, I also realized that I didn't have a decent knife on me either, so I couldn't do as much as cut string, never mind strip bark.

Taurus probably could have loaned me a decent knife -- maybe even some flint for arrowheads, but my jaw set at the thought of asking him for any favors. Something just wasn't right about the man. His willingness to help us, his easy tidings.

    There must have been something he wanted, he must have been getting something out of this. There was no one on earth who would put himself through this journey, just to help a couple kids he didn't know.

A dark shadow flickered in the corner of my eyes and I put a pause in my mental musings to look around.

Once again, a flash of darkness moved just out of my line of sight, and this time, I would have sworn that it was accompanied by a stripe of deep blue.

I promptly gave up my search for the arrow and drew my weapon slowly so that the string pinched tight against my fingers. "Who's there?" I called out. "Show yourself."

I closed my eyes and opened my ears for a sound. My heart skipped ahead of me and some sort of stringed screeching echoed in my skull, making it difficult to concentrate. There was a slight shift in the leaves to my right, almost unnoticeable, like that of a songbird hopping along the ground. I twisted at the waist and aimed in the direction of the sound.

The arrow stuck several inches into a tree and suddenly there was a mad scrambling as the one who was hiding behind it broke into a run. "Hey!" I yelled and moved toward him several, steps before giving up. The stranger ran like lightning, and I all I could make out was a stripe of deep blue rimming the hood of his cloak, before he disappeared over the ridge.

I sighed in frustration before stalking over to yank my arrow from the tree. There was no use chasing him now, I reasoned as I turned on the coin and ran it back in the direction I came.

There was someone else about in these woods -- these woods where only the Cardinals ventured. My heart hammered in my chest as I wove between the trees.

The frost on the ground made running hazardous, and each step a risk, but I didn't dare slow. Thoughts raced through my head at a thousand miles a minute. The blue on his hood seemed familiar, too familiar in fact. Bass boomed painfully in my skull, just beneath my ears.

In a flash, my mind zoned in on the flag Taurus had showed off earlier. The blues, the blacks.

I swallowed a lungful of icy air. It would appear that the elf did get one thing right.

The flicker of the firelight appeared just before the range of my vision, and to my surprise, I could hear Aldyth and Taurus even before I could see them, It was as if they were speaking into a canyon, and their voices carried a thousand miles -- but there was no canyon, and they were too far away to ever plausibly be heard.

What do you mean, we shouldn't go and look for him? Aldyth's voice projected in a strange and echoy manner. He kissed me, Taurus. Something is wrong, I tell you.

Don't worry about it, Aldyth. He's in shock and there's nothing else we can do to for him, but let him deal with it on his own.

Is that how elves do it then? Her voice rose angrily. You leave your brethren to freeze all alone in the woods, so that they can 'deal with it' on their own?

Taurus remained silent.

Their voices grew clearer as I neared the camp.

Well, that's not how humans do it, Aldyth growled. There was a low clinking sound, like she was lifting something heavy off the ground. If he wants alone time, then he can sit here, ignoring us, with a blanket and some boiled water. Now if you're not going to help me find him, then I'll do it myself."

"There's no need for that," the elf replied calmly.

"And why would you say that?"

I was within seeing distance of the camp now. The elf was still sitting on the ground where I had left him, but now Aldyth was now standing over him, her dark hair spilling out from the scarf she had wrapped around her head. Ashless was saddled and stepping around anxiously and Bethor stood a little ways off to the side, like the yelling disturbed him.

Taurus's large, reptilian eyes glowed, even in the daylight, so I was able to see when he shifted his gaze in my direction. "Because here he comes now," he replied. "He's running. I think he missed us."

"Missed you or not," I said as burned to a halt by Aldyth's side. "I believe we are in for some trouble."

The two of them grew still as I told them of the man in the woods. Taurus shot me a few wary questions. Was he armed? Did I see anything unusual on his belt?

I couldn't supply but the most menial of answers, because in all truth, I didn't get a good look at him.

Taurus put out the fire with a smooth, upward cutting gesture, and got to his feet. But before I could comment about his disturbing outward display of elf magic, he flipped the pole he had been carrying since Hbéakut off the ground and into his hands.

In a quick and simple movement, he slid the silk had been working on over the pole so that so that the light fabric hung suspended over the ground like water. Aldyth and I watched in muted silence as the elf flipped the bare end of the pole around his wrist, then around his body as if he were getting a feel for it's added weight.

"The balance could be better," he murmured as he stepped his feet together and tossed the flag into the air. It circled twice before landing again in his palm.

Aldyth's eyes went as wide as saucers. "That was excellent! Do it again."

"I'm afraid we have other things to worry about," Taurus slung the flag over his shoulder nonchalantly. "If what Elias says is true, then the North Cardinal already knows we're here."

"Then what do we do?" I asked nervously.

He shot me some sort of smug look before flicking his ears at the sky. "Well, we could keep on the way we were going. Their scout will report back to the Majorette and they'll ambush us without a second thought, or... we can ride hard and fast toward the border now, and hope that we'll still have a chance to plea our case."

"That second option seems like it involves less personally injury," Aldyth noted skeptically.

"With hope," Taurus shrugged.

"Break camp then, boys," Aldyth said as she turned on her heel. "I'll prep the horses for running."

I watched her for the briefest moment as she walked away retying her dagger to her belt. "She scares me, sometimes," I murmured.

The elf turned to me. His eyes were cautious, or maybe demeaning, it was hard to tell. "Yes, she does...and if I'm right about her, I think the world would be smart to fear her."

"...wait, what?"

A/N

Yay an update! We're getting there guys. We're getting to the North Cardinal, but will they survive the gates. And will Taurus even stick with them if they do?