I laughed along with the elf uneasily. Something told about his nonchalance said that he would tell her just to spite me. It was what elves do after all, they wet tricky, selfish, and easy to annoy. Despite this, I asked, "Who are you then, Master Elf?"

   "They call me Taurus," he replied. His face broke into a disturbing smile once again as he pulled a bundle wrapped in leaves out of his pack. He quickly untied the string to reveal several strips of dried meat. His glowing, slitted eyes flashed between me and the meat, as he were trying to remember some sort of etiquette he had long forgotten. He took a strip and held it between his sharp teeth for a moment, before offering me a piece. I stomach was not settled enough to be hungry and I told him so. "You should eat," he prompted and waved the food in my face. "I understand it has been a long day for you." His eyes caught the light of the fire menacingly.

    I didn't take my eyes away as I reached to grab a strip. "What is it?"

    "Well it's not human flesh if that's what you mean," Taurus said as he started tearing into his own food. The way his teeth ground through the meat made my stomach turn. Below all the myths of their culture and intelligence, elves were also known to be stealth predators with superior speed and senses to any human. Among the stories my father told me was those of the elves that hunted and ate children for their own sustenance. Those stories m may have been just that...stories, but good tales always have their way of sticking around. Taurus seemed to catch me staring and glanced up in annoyance. "You have obviously never seen an elf before in your life, have you not?"

   I shook my head and looked down at the strip of meat in my hands.

    "You mustn't judge an entire race on a story that was told to scare you. Many of those things happened many and many a moonfall. Some of things never even happened, but your kind insists on soiling our name with your fairy tales and horror stories." His lips drew back in annoyance and a low growl rumbled up from his throat.

    "So..." I started tentatively as I scrambled to collect my thoughts.

    "So our kind doesn't eat humans. We have criminals just like every other race that runs this world of cold and fire," his shoulders rose and fell unsteadily, as if he were penning up a steady anger for societal ignorance.

    I nodded slowly and tried to put forth a welcoming face. Taurus let out a sigh. "My people are hardly any different than yours, or the dwarves, or the Vales. We look different, we hunt different, and we speak a different language, and practice a different, but humans have the same inconsistencies -- and you all manage to get along. But we elves," he laughed under his breath. "We are reduced to story material, forced to live in places that no other decent creatures could survive -- and survive we do. We are not the born savages of your best tales, nor the joyful fairies of your worst. We are people, who enjoy life, feel sorrow, and though many refuse to admit it, make mistakes. We are not so strange a manner to wrap one's head around, but sadly, the way we're seen, is not the way we are."

    "I sympathize that you must live that way," I said slowly before taking a bite out of the meat. It was tough and chewy, but salted with spices that were hard to come by in the mountains. "This is rather good," I nodded and took another bite. "Out of curiosity, what is it?"

    "It's elf flesh," he replied without looking up. I gasped and started coughing wildly to get the meat lodged out of my throat. Taurus widened his eyes and threw his water skin in my direction. "I was jesting, kid, it was a tease. Good Lords, child, you take everything too seriously!"

"My name, is Elias," I wheezed and glared at him through tearing eyes, while fully ignoring his water skin. "And I'm sorry if my humor does not meet your elvish standards, but my entire village is gone and my family has been captured by a bunch of conspicuous pipe players! If I seem inconsiderate, I might be a bit distracted. "

    His glowing eyes softened. "I am sorry...Elias. When I speak with others, it becomes easy to forget." I glared down at the meat in my hands, unwilling to put it anywhere near my mouth. Taurus cleared his throat, "Not that it matters much anymore, but it is venison."

    "Are you sure? Or is that a jest as well?"

    "I'm sure," the elf sighed. "Please, eat, for whatever happens next, you will need your strength."

    After a moment of consideration, I took another begrudging bite and tried to collect my thoughts. Despite the eeriness of the elf staring at me, my mind couldn't help but wander back to the previous day. With so many people, the wagon train couldn't possibly move very fast. If I started immediately, I could catch up with them before daybreak. My eyes moved to Aldyth, whose face was peaceful for the first time all day. Where was I supposed to leave her? There was no village go bring her back to and there was no where else that I could guarantee that she would be safe.

    Besides, knowing her, she would insist on coming along.

    "What happened here?" Taurus spoke up, cutting into my thoughts. "What place is this?"

    "My village, is Gris...was Gris...we are a township of Alyvanter."

    "Never heard of it."

    "Few have."

    "Tell me everything that happened." He demanded and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

    "I am not sure about everything," I ran a nervous hand through my hair, careful, to avoid touching my ears. "Aldyth and I --" Taurus gestured at Aldyth to confirm her identity. I nodded. "We spent most of the day out by ourselves in the woods."

    "Scandalous," Taurus muttered. I shot him a look. "What? Do humans not find that sort of behavior, scandalous? The both of you are hardly children anymore."

    "Ha," I scoffed. "I do not think of her in such ways, despite what you and the rest of the town may think. She is my best friend."

    "Think of me in what ways?" Aldyth murmured. I glanced down at her and was relieved to see her eyes fluttering open. She winced then sat up before anybody could protest.

    "Nothing, go back to sleep," I said quickly.

She gave me look, though slightly hollow; it was still fully intimidating. "You cannot just order me around, Eli. I am not one of your little siblings."

    "Oh, he is well aware of that," Taurus chuckled. I gawked at him nervously. If mood swings were was a common thing with him, I wasn't sure how long I could stand his company before I left on in my own and got lost in the night.

    Aldyth glanced over and appeared to notice our dinner guest for the first time. Her eyes widened and she scrambled back several paces toward me. "Oh gods, an elf!"

    "Here we go again...."

    Taurus closed his eyes for a moment and brought his hands to his temples as if the two of us were giving him a migraine -- and not the other way around. Aldyth scurried back until she leaning beside me with a rather frantic expression on her face.

    "It's okay," I said quickly, trying to settle her obvious alarm. "This is Taurus, he saved us. He's... a friend." My words came out uneasily, for I was unsure how to address the situation. Meanwhile, Taurus was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, his amber, cat-like eyes catching the glow of the flames brightly. His unkept, brown hair fell down over his face, making his glowing irises even more startling.

    Aldyth shot me a look of concern, but I nodded encouragingly. "My gratitude goes out to you, Taurus. Though I am unsure what exactly happened, I thank you," she sighed.

    "Ah, well," the elf seemed slightly taken aback, like he had expected profanity instead of thanks. He straightened and pulled his cloak tighter over his shoulders. "You're welcome, I suppose. It's not like I was going to let the East take anymore children prisoner, if I could help it. Especially after you had been exposed to a hail of tuning piccolos..." He paused as if he were unsure if he should continue. "You both would have never been able to hear again if I hadn't gotten to you when I did. Your inner drums were raptured, and the blood refused to clot in your ears."

    Subconsciously, I brought my hand up to touch my right ear. The outside was completely fine, but every move of my jaw sent a throb deep into my head. "Who were those people?" I whispered in such a hushed tone, that no one further off than Aldyth should have been able to hear me, but Taurus's elf ears were as were to be perceived.

    "The army of the East Cardinal," Taurus murmured toward the flames.

    "The East Cardinal," Aldyth repeated.

    "Aye," the elf nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line. "You know, the four Cardinal nations surrounding the United Confederation of Cities."

    "I don't understand," Aldyth stated, sitting up straighter and hugging her blanket closer to her chest. The night was getting cold and we had on the skins for a much warmer day than it was. "I thought the Cardinal nations were supposed to protect us. They are supposed to be what keeps the Confederacy together."

    "Unfortunately," Taurus unsheathed one of his knives and started carving at twig he had snatched up from the ground. "The East Cardinal has fallen to the rule of a set of corrupted majors." His eyes flashed and he muttered under his breath some words about isolated villages rolling in their own ignorance.

    Aldyth and I both chose to ignore him on that count. It was true, isolation bred ignorance. "What are majors?" I asked calmly, though my heart was racing inside me.

    Taurus glanced up in annoyance. "You really don't know?"

    Aldyth have him an identical look. "I can state seven names for a single species of herb than can cure a wide variety of many common illnesses. I can name another four that look almost identical in nature, but can cause you to swell up like a corpse with even the briefest contacts. We all have our areas of expertise, Taurus. We've already expressed our gratitude, I don't see what else you can expect from us." I placed my hand on Aldyth's shoulder and shook my head, telling her not to lose hers.

    "Very well," Taurus nodded. "I suppose you have a point... Majors, are what the Cardinal nations call their active leaders. Majors see to the affairs of the people and make almost all of the moving decisions. In times of peace their duties remain solely those I have stated, but in times of war, which are now upon us, the Majors also conduct their armies and make decisions for the people. They --"

    "War!" Aldyth and I both exclaimed before Taurus had a time to finish. "When did we go to war!?" I added.

"Peace never lasts forever, young Elias," the elf said grimly. "Just shy of a decade past did the two current Majors of the East Cardinal rise into power. They bring out the worst in each other, you see. They had a vision to conquer the other three Cardinals as well as the Confederacy, to bring forth a new age of the..." He trailed off.

    "Of the what?" I demanded.

    Taurus shook his head. "Strong forces dwell among the Cardinals, kid. Deeper and more ancient than anything you've ever seen before. There is a reason why, at the beginning of all times, the Cardinal nations were split into four separate countries, stationed at the farthest tips of our lands, instead of as a single, colossal empire set to govern all that surround it. All of them, East, South, West, and North; they have power about them, buried deep within their culture. They were best left separated, where they could do no harm. But a dark shadow has swept in from the East, and they are using their power and alliances to bring down the other Cardinals, and any others that get in their way."

    For a moment Aldyth and I had little to say. Personally, the shock was failing to hit me. There had been rumors for many long years that the lands were at war, yet so long as they were just rumors, then we were all content just to go about with our lives. But they were not just rumors, and a single day had brought forth the destruction of everything we had ever known. Our home was gone, as well everyone that made it home. There was no way we could just get back to our lives after a catastrophe like this. Things would never be the same. "Why did they take prisoners?" Aldyth whispered. I could see the tears in her eyes. "Why did they burn our home?"

    Taurus looked at us sadly, his stance full of sorrow, despite the inhumane cast of his eyes. "They need people to fight for them, the East. They have been raiding and pillaging the South and West Cardinals for most of this year, but it is difficult to bend a citizen of a Cardinal nation to your whims, no matter who they are....so they have been taking townships of the Confederacy to flesh out their armies."

    I shook my head in confusion. "No, that can't be it. They took everyone. Women, children, old folk, everyone who didn't fight back, and those who did they k --" Aldyth froze, causing me to pause and rephrase. "What do they want with them?"

    Taurus sighed and appeared to be avoiding my eyes. "The social structure of the Cardinals is different than the ones you were raised in, Elias. Women have hands, do they not? They can hold a sword. They have the ability to wield spears or shoot arrows just as well as any man. The only reason women are chained to the wagons while men walk is because they're needed to calm the children. All four of the Cardinal Nations value an equality among the genders. It is their policy in life," he frowned and kept his eyes trained on the flames. "And the East has made it their policy in war."

    "Even children?" Aldyth demanded. "Are kids so much the same as everyone else as well?"

    "Oh," Taurus straightened and shook his head. "No. They don't make kids fight, at least not yet anyways. They kidnap the children to better control the parents." The elf pressed his lips together into a hard line and closed his glowing eyes. With his eyes hidden away and his sharp teeth closed from view, Taurus almost looked as if he could have passed for one of us, even his pointy ears were less noticeable.

    "How do you know all this?" I breathed.

    "I've seen the horror of the East, first hand," he replied without moving.

    "How.... Have they taken your family too?"

    He let out a long breath and opened his eyes. "Yes, I suppose you could say that."

    The three of us fell into a stony, hard silence, each of us pondering a calamity all our own. There had to be a way for me to catch up with them and free my family. I could not very well, just leave them to die after I had abandoned them the way I did. Slowly I tested out my legs. They didn't appear to be injured. In a series of careful movements, I attempted to right myself only to find that my center of balance was more off key than a new born learning to walk for the first time.

    Taurus looked up in alarm. "Be careful. You're still not well, I wouldn't move until the sun rises, if I were you."

    I pointedly ignored him and tried to stand again, only to topple before I had one foot firmly planted on the ground. "I am fine. The only thing that is wrong is my ears."

    "That is exactly your problem," Taurus seemed to get more amused each time I fell to the ground. "Your ears are your centers of balance. You can try and walk away all you want, I have mended what I can, but there are things you must do yourself. And until that happens, you'll just keep making a fool of yourself -- much to my amusement though, so keep trying to stand. It's rather laughable."

    I muttered a few choice words under my breath.

    "I heard that," Taurus's cat eyes twinkled.

    "You were meant to," I replied.

    Aldyth was watching our exchange in muted silence. If this had been any other day and I had been falling on my rear for any other reason, she would have been laughing right along with Taurus, cracking jokes and doing mimes that would have had me insulted beyond the sun. But now she just watched solemnly like every second was a reminder of a thing she'd rather not remember. "What are we even to do now? Where are we to go?"

    "I will see that whatever you go, you are safe," I told Aldyth in a gentle way. "Then I'm going after my family and I'm going to set them free," I pressed my lips together in a hard line. "No matter what it takes."

    Her jaw locked and Taurus's eyes flared. "I'm going with you," Aldyth stated while the elf exclaimed, "Like bloody death, your aren't!"

    We both gave him a death glare that appeared to startle him. "And why not?" I demanded.

    "What they did to the two of you is but a taste of what their people can do! Or did you forget already?" Taurus balled his hand into a fist and slammed it down onto his knee. "Do you know how they managed to capture your entire village so easily?! Why cardinals are so hard to manipulate? The Cardinal Nations have always harolded the potential for dark magics, and the East isn't afraid to use it anymore. You wouldn't get within a mile of them before you under their control."

    "And what do you propose I do then? Leave my family to fight or die? Is that what you did?"

    Taurus fell silent. Perhaps I was correct, and a small part of me felt sympathy for the man, but the rest of me was far from taking anything back.

    "The East is on a rampage," he stated in a flat, emotionless voice. "You wouldn't stand a chance against them while they continue to capture and burn. It'll be better for all persons involved if you wait until they make it back to their camp on the border of Levîn and Hapsrūng. They'll be overconfident and let their guards down... But that won't be for another couple moons."

    "Two months," I repeated. "You want me to wait two months and just hope that my family will be alright in the meantime."

    "Yes, it pains me to say it, but what good will you be doing anyone if you get captured as well?" Taurus looked down again.

    I crossed my arms over my chest defiantly. "And what exactly do you expect me to do in the meantime, sit in the forest and memorize poetry?"

    "You don't need to memorize anymore poetry," Aldyth muttered.

    Taurus looked a bit confused at that remark, but he shrugged it off. "I was headed to Alfaydé to inform my people of the happenings, but this is more urgent. The elves have waited a hundred years to know things, they can wait a little longer. I will escort you to the borders of the North Cardinal. It is a quick, five day journey from here, but if they don't kill you first, you will be safe there."

A/n
And thus the story begins.

So the media is the bookjacket I made.

So what do you make of Taurus? If you've read the description, you know how this is going to go generically. Any back story theories for our resident elf friend?

Edited. 7.16.16