Silent Symphony

Chapter Thirty-Four: An Elf, An Anthran, And A Bass Drum Only I Can Hear

“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.