"We have no identification."

That single fact seemed to suck all the light from Aldyth's day. Her hands trailed almost invisibly over Ashless's saddle like she was touching a memory she didn't know had existed. "The tack was marked with the Ferndale's emblem -- " She explained to me while Cwen went to go play in the stall with her roan foal, Fellix. "I can't believe it. I spent all of two years training these horses. I redid everything they ever learned from their previous owners. Now they can be used from everything from military steeds to distance runners -- and on a soft bit too. They are good horses -- "

"I'm not so sure about Bethor," I noted with my arms crossed over my chest.

She pointly ignored my ramblings. "They're good horses all because of me, yet can I lay any claim to them?"

"No?" I guessed.

She flicked her pointer finger from her forehead to mine. "Not in an instant -- the trainor trains the horses, the trainor does not own the horses," she scoffed and flipped her hair over one shoulder. "It's like telling a mother she has no rights to her children."

"Look," I placed my hand on her shoulder and started walking over toward Cwen. "We'll talk to Hyde about it, we'll figure this out."

"I hope you're right," Aldyth sighed and slapped my hand away. "I don't think I could stand to lose them too." She rolled her shoulder back and gave the entire stables a once over. Her gaze moved slowly, as if this would be the last time she would ever see home.

While Aldyth kept herself entertained with cursing the social systems, I made my way over to Cwen to find her and the little foal rolling around in a pile of straw. "Hello, you two," I chuckled and helped the girl to her feet. She beamed at me with a toothy grin and offered me a handful of hay. "Do you want to go back to the house, Cwen?"

"Can Fellix come too?' She asked loudly.

I crouched down by her side and combed the hay out of her hair with my fingers. "No I think Fellix wants to stay out here with his mother. Don't you think so?" She pouted and wrapped her arms around the small horse's neck. The foal snorted softly and rested his little head on her shoulder. I rolled my eyes before straightening up. "I don't think your father would ever forgive us if we brought a horse into his house."

"But Fellix isn't a horse!"

"Oh?" I chuckled. "What is he then?" He definitely looked like a horse to me.

"He is the strength that pulls the chariot of the guardians! The connector of the fourth to the three. His hooves will raise fire from the deepest cores of the earth!" She squealed and hugged her arms tighter around the foal's neck. Fellix's mother snorted nervously and eyed Cwen with a look that said she was ready to stomp the child out of existence.

"Alright. I think it's time to go inside now," I decided and pulled Cwen away before either of us could get trampled to death. "I'd hate to hear the type of stories you're told at night." With the girl's hand tucked in my own, the two of us wandered toward the back of the stable where Aldyth was gently combing out Bethor's mane. As we walked, my ears started ringing with the low trill of a whistle -- or possibly a flute. I looked up toward where the east horizon would be, before shaking it off. Ever since that night in forest, when Taurus proclaimed me to be a 'hearer of Silence', audible motifs and melodies started to take the place of background thoughts.

Neither Aldyth nor Taurus could hear what I heard -- which made them the only distinguishing factor between my head and reality. My ears still ached every now and again as a painful reminder of everything that was no more. My teeth sank down into my bottom lip and I used my free hand to rub at the base of my left ear.

Suddenly Cwen froze. "What's wrong?" I voiced quietly.

Her eyes slowly wandered until they leveled in the direction of the East horizon. "Flute."

Aldyth looked up from her brushing as if jarred by the word. And within the second, all movement stopped. The sound grew louder and more piercing like a thousand arrows being shot at high speed. The horses all started to toss their heads; Aldyth covered her ears with her hand. "What is that?"

For a moment none of it made sense, but as that second melted into the next I slowly began to understand. Cwen and Aldyth, they could hear it, and if they could hear it, then it must have been real.

"We need to get out of here," I beckoned for Aldyth to follow me and together the three of us slowly made our way to the stable doors.

I brought my ear up toward the wood and listened hard. There was low thunder running under the flute sound. I slowly eased the door open a crack and peered up at the churning. grey sky. There was a screech like shredding metal, followed by a flash of dull white from up above. I allowed the door to creak open a little farther.

My vision was met with wings of white.

"Atrixes," I breathed and shrank down behind the door.

Aldyth appeared to pale. "Here? Now?" She reached out and protectively wrapped Cwen into her arms. Another Atrix screamed from above.

"We need to get Cwen back to her father," I announced and carefully pushed the door open wide enough for the three of us to step through. My thoughts raced at a speed of thousand leagues a minute. Suddenly nothing else mattered. We couldn't let another child be separate from her family.

We walked in a guarded line with me in the front and Aldyth heading the rear. People were starting to shout from the direction of the main plaza. Another Atrix flew overhead and I quickly pulled Cwen under the branches of the nearest tree. As we stood there frozen for the longest moment, her eyes would dart to the sky and her lips would part like she wanted to ask something but didn't know what question to ask.

As soon as the Atrix was out of sight, we continued on. Suddenly the short distance to the house seemed like miles of forbidden forest. Every sound made us freeze; Cwen started too whimper. The coldness in the air only grew colder.

There was a sharp grinding sound behind us and I turned to find that Aldyth had unsheathed her dagger. Our eyes met and I offered her a brief nod. Now was the time.

With the bulk of my body hunched over Cwen, the three of us made the last mad dash toward the house. Once safely inside, Aldyth bolted the back door before gripping her dagger tightly with both hands. "We need to get out of here. Now."

I shook my head sternly. "We need to warn the others. The East might be planning a raid. If they have some warning them might be able to prevent what happened to us."

"It's too late for that," she growled; her eyes were hard and her jaw was set. "We need to find Taurus and get out of here immediately. They're going to take everyone and we need to get out before they get us."

Cwen wrapped her delicate arms around my legs and looked up at me with her head pressed up against my thigh. "Where are they going to take us?"

My jaw dropped slightly but no sound came out. What was I supposed to tell her? Instead I ran my hand over her head and glared at Aldyth as if to say, Are we not going to at least warn them?

She held my daze for the longest moment as if contemplating how much she standed to gain by arguing. Finally she buckled. "Tell who you want, then go find Taurus." Aldyth's hand moved quickly as she retied her cloak tightly at the throat causing her face to disappear beneath her hood. "Make sure you go back to the main road when you're done. I'll meet you."

"Where are you going?" I asked as she unbolted the back door and started to run.

"I'll meet you!" She called over her shoulder.

I sighed and turned to Cwen. Her eyes were wide and trained hard at Aldyth's back. "Let's go find your father."

[[]]

"Cwen," Hyde breathed and folded her into his arms. He was standing in the middle of the road, staring at the sky when we found him. The sound of the flute's high tone appeared to have him mesmerized and unmoving. Cwen waited at the edge of the road with her hands over her ears while I dragged him back toward the house before smacking him hard over the back of the head. And just like that, whatever trance that had engulfed him, disappeared.

"Elias," his gaze moved to me as he stood up with Cwen holding on for dear life.

"Yes?"

"If you want to try your luck with the North, now is the safest time for you to try. The East -- because it is the East that's coming for us, correct? -- we're too close to them. They'll try their best not to make a scene. They can't afford a war with the Northerns, not yet anyway." He quickly hurried back toward the house and came back with a crossbow balanced in one arm. "Don't worry about us. We'll be okay."

"What are you doing?" I asked as the store owner loaded a bolt into the chute.

"The East is expecting us to go quietly," Hyde scoffed as Cwen tightened her hold around his neck. "Hbéakut has been awaiting their arrival for months, and I speak for everyone here when I say that the people of this town will never leave quietly. The North will find out about this. News travels fast," his eyes moved upward and held my gaze. "Especially if one exists who can deliver it."

"La día di a de, morré kia," Cwen added confidently.

I nodded slowly. "If the North will have us..."

"Tell them that the East is coming for them, and that they have declared war."

"War," Cwen echoed.

I nodded again. "The East Cardinal is coming. They have declared war."

A/N

Okay we're off and running. Time for a battle.