Autumn Equinox

Prologue

Tsaa stared contemplatively at the papers on the desk in front of him. Each of the papers held the past, the age, and other profile information on certain fighters in his faction that could be possible candidates for the next leader. He knew something was going to happen, something that he wouldn’t survive.

Tsaa was an imposing figure in his own right. He had black-brown hair, silver eyes, and a scar under his left eye. He stood at about six foot.

“Suno,” he called out.

“Yes, sir?” asked his advisor as she walked in. She had blonde hair pulled back into a long rat-tail and green eyes, and stood at about five-foot four inches.

“Where is this girl Demon?”

“I believe she’s on patrol at the northern borders.”

“When will she return?” Tsaa asked as he stroked his chin.

“She’ll most likely return just after sundown.”

“Tell her that she is to see me immediately after she returns.”

“Will do, sir. Anything else you need, sir?”

“Yes, stop calling me sir. It makes me feel old.”

“It’s habit, Tsaa.” Suno said smiling as she turned and walked out of Tsaa’s office.

Demon jumped down off a low branch to the ground. Her eyes were narrowed as she glanced quickly around. Her golden brown hair was pulled back to a ponytail. Two black lines marked the inside of her eyes dropping down to disappear beneath her mask which had a fanged smile on it. She stood at about five-foot ten. Skel and Cayne jumped down behind her.

Skel was about five-foot five, had black hair and black eyes. Her mask was white and was marked by an almost skeletal-looking mouth. Her showing face was painted white with black circles around her eyes. Cayne stood at about five-foot eleven, had tanned skin, auburn hair, and blue-green eyes. His mask was black and had a multi-toothed smile painted on it.

“I still think she’s pulling our leg,” Cayne muttered. Skel quirked an eyebrow at him and gestured her head towards Demon in front of them.

“I’m not pulling your leg. I know I heard something,” Demon said while still glancing around. Cayne opened his mouth to say something but Demon cut him off by saying, “Speaking of pulling your leg, you may not want to take that step forward. There is rope loop trap set right about—,” Cayne yelled out as he was pulled up into the air by his left ankle. His stave clattered to the ground. Demon rolled her eyes and continued, “Never mind, you found it.”

Cayne started cursing profusely as he attempted to reach up and cut the rope binding him. Gravity did its job as he fell to the ground when he finally managed to cut the rope. He continued cursing as he picked himself off the ground and grabbed his stave.

“Are you quite finished?” Demon asked.

“You know what—” Cayne started before Skel shushed him.

Skel’s hand unconsciously drifted towards an arrow in the pack on her back as she raised her bow slightly. In seconds, she drew an arrow, set in to the bow, and loosed it into the foliage above them. There was a slight gasp and a figure fell to the ground, the arrow protruding from their chest. Five others jumped down from the trees near the corpse and took stances with various weapons. Every one of them wore vests with a symbol of an orb with two slashes through it.

“They’re Moonsong faction members,” Cayne said contemptuously.

“I haven’t noticed,” Demon muttered under her breath while she drew her twin katanas.

“Let’s even the stakes,” Skel said as she set two arrows to her bow, drew them back, and released them in what seemed to be one swift motion. They hit their marks on the two closest opponents to her. “That’s better.”

The Moonsong fighters seemed to shift slightly while glancing at each other.

“Well, are you gonna fight, or should we just capture and drag you to the interrogators? I can assure you, at the least one of you is gonna be interrogated. And trust me, it won’t be all that pleasant either way,” Cayne explained. The Moonsong fighters glared at him.

One finally got the guts to try to attack them, dashing towards Demon. drawing out a double-handed broad sword. Demon stepped aside and stuck out her foot at the last minute, causing the Moonsong fighter to trip and thusly, he stabbed himself with his own sword. She looked up to see Cayne cleaning blood off his stave while Skel held the last fighter—a girl—in a lock with a knife held to her throat. Skel drew out some cord and tied the girl’s wrists together. She released her.

“W-w-what are y-you g-going to do t-to me?” the girl asked.

“We, as in us three, are going to lead you to the guard post, where you will most likely be interrogated. If you cooperate, you may live, if you don’t, you’ll join your friends here,” Cayne explained. It looked as if the girl’s eyes couldn’t widen any further, though it was proved wrong once what Cayne had said sunk in.

“Cayne, stop it. You’re scaring her more than she already is,” Skel berated.

“Says the girl who paints her face white and tries to look dead,” Cayne retorted.

“Guys, stop your bickering. You sound like an old couple. We have to move. This may not be the last of them,” Demon interrupted.

Cayne glared at Skel as if saying i I’m not done yet /i , though nodded and followed after Demon.

“We’ll take the old way,” Demon said quietly. “It’s quicker.”

“It’s probably also overgrown by now,” Skel reminded her.

Demon drew out one of her katanas. “That’s easily solved.” She ducked under a low branch and walked along the trail. In most places it was visible, though in some she had to use her katana to slash a few branches away.

When the three reached the post, they handed the prisoner over to the guards and were told to return home, their watch was over.

Skel and Cayne started arguing again so Demon bid them farewell and continued on her way home. She shoved her hand into the pocket in her pants, furrowed her eyebrows, sighed, and rolled her eyes. “Damn, forgot my key again,” she muttered. She pulled her right sleeve up, grabbed the needle strapped to the armguard, and picked the lock quickly. “Hn, seventeen seconds, a new record,” she murmured.

She unstrapped the harness for her katanas and hung them on a rack. Walking into the kitchen, she pulled her mask off. She turned on the sink, cupped her hands, and splashed water onto her face. She grabbed a towel and wiped off the paint. She pulled off her armguards and boots and was about to retire to her room if it wasn’t for a knock on the door.

Demon walked up to the door and opened it, resisting the urge to scowl when she noticed one of Tsaa’s guards standing there.

“What do you want?” she asked, not bothering to hide the contempt.

“Artemesia ‘Demon’ Eyfane, you are to report to the liege Tsaa’s office immediately,” the guard said.

“What’d I do this time?” she asked, more of to herself than to the guard.

“He did not specify,” the guard answered, completely oblivious to the fact that her question was hypothetical.

Demon glowered and said, “I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

The guard nodded and ran off. Demon shut the door and slumped to the floor, trying to remember what she could have done that would have irked the leader again. She hadn’t attempted to scare anyone—well unless you count scaring Twitch, but that doesn’t count. He’s afraid of practically everything.

She stood, opened her door, and ran to Tsaa’s office.