Nihon-Ja

It was quite at night, not a single sound could be heard in the little village. The villagers had had a long, hard day of harvesting the crops and preparing for winter, by the end of the day everyone was tired.

And then it screamed.

Rising and falling in pitch, sharp and piercing, it claimed the night, echoing from all around, making it impossible to tell were it first started. The whole village was awake and outdoors in seconds. Men holding weapons and looking all around for the possible attack, women keeping there children in side and fearing for the safety of their husbands, the little children crying as they held there ears to block out the sound they thought meant death.

The creatures song was suddenly stopped. Everyone held their breath, nothing moved, not even the crickets chirped. They cry of a man suddenly rang out from the direction of the forest, then was cut off.

A small party of the villagers went into the forest shortly after they had heard the cry. Each one held a lantern, sending the shadows dancing in the flickering light.

"Over here!" All the men went to where their comrade had found the body of a man, who was stone cold dead. His eyes where still wide with terror, mouth open in a silent scream.

Blood marked where the killer had struck; right in the heart.

"Look..." One of the men had left the circle of observers and was now holding his lantern up to the trunk of a tree. Carved into the tree was a bird in flight, swooping down to its unknown prey, wings spread wide.

"Send a message to the Emperor. There's been another attack."

Hibernia

Men moved back and forth, a wooden bucket in each hand. The night was illuminated by the roaring fire that was spreading among the wooden houses and dock, threatening to consume the fishing boats and their food source. No boats, no fish.

Left, right, left. it was a rhythm they now had and didn't let go, they followed the fire, cutting it off, throwing water high into the air.

During this, no one payed attention to a burning boat off the dock, with three dead bodies on it, each with the of a bird in flight into their skin on the right side of their neck.

They also didn't notice the figure clad in black slip away into a small thicket of trees that had a small knife stained with blood.

And some flint and steel.

Arridi

The sound of teeth tearing into flesh and the wet, chocked scream of the victim was all that could be heard in the vast dessert area, until it just died away, the same as the owner of the screams. The creature that had taken down and finally killed it's prey left it like it dose all the others then it comes back in the morning for a snack.

>>>--------->

Umar shaded his eyes against the already rising sun and could see a small cloud of vultures hovering over something close by, just beyond a sand dune. Dismounting Sandstorm, he walked up the dune, then got on his hands and knees and crawled the last few paces. Looking over the sand dune he saw something that made his stomach role.

Lying on the ground was what looked like a person, but now was unrecognizable by all the blood and bites. Standing over the body was the biggest dog Umar had ever seen. It was tall and well muscled with short black fur and brown markings, it's ears were pointy and there was a stub of a tail. The beast looked up at Umar, head low and ears down, snarling, showing it's inch long fangs. it's teeth and whole muzzle were coated in blood.

Both man and beats stayed in the same position for a while, when the dog lunged forward. Umar quickly reached for the hilt of his sword and slashed up as he flicked it out of its scabbard, cutting the dog across its chest. The dog landed in a cloud of sand and took off, not looking back. It wasn't even going to attack Umar, not like he knew that.

Umar watched the dog run, run faster than any desert cat that prowled the great waves of sand. When it was well out of sight, Umar mounted Sandstorm and turned him in the direction of Al Shabah. "Looks like another visit to Seleyel'then.'' he muttered.

Skandia

Sparks flew high into the air as metal met metal, sword against cuff. The Skandian was shocked that this man wrapped in dark clothing could deflect his blows with only a pair of metal cuffs. One on each forearm, right above the wrist of his hands.

His opponent suddenly deflected his over head cut to the left and kicked out with his right foot to the knee of the skandian, making him fall to the ground.

As strong as this Skandian was, it was nothing to the strength of the man in black, with a small but well muscled build. He looked down at the skandian, then turned and vanished into the night.

Getting up, he looked around, waiting for a surprise counter attack from a different angle, but nothing happened. He began to back away when he saw the symbol carved into a nearby tree. One symbol, One death. He turned to run, but just then a black shafted arrow wizzed from an unknown direction and shot him square in the chest.

Araluen

Night was falling as the sun set behind the trees of the forest that was not far from Castle Redmont. Most days at the end of the work week, people would be out drinking and having a good laugh with friends at the Heaped Platter.

But not these last few months. Not with the Nightriders out and about, killing a man when he was caught unaware, or traumatizing him to much that he would never recover. Physically or mentally.

"It's getting dark, we should go back to the castle before your mother kills us both, and by that I mean me and Halt." Gilan looked down at three-year old Daniel as he said this with a wry smile. He had taken over as the second ranger of Redmont when Will had died. He was honored to do it, though he knew he would never replace him, no one could, he was Will after all.

Daniel made a small pouty face, which was quickly replaced with a broad smile when Halt picked him up and put him in Abelard's saddle. "Horse ride!" he cried. Daniel absolutely loved to ride, even more than playing Hide-and-Seek, which he was excellent at.

Just as Halt was about to guide Abelard back to the castle Daniel pointed at the forest with a look of curiosity. "Horse!" he called out. Both Gilan and Halt turned and instantly drew arrows and notched them. Standing in the trees was a Nightrider, sitting astride a tall, elegant horse in semi black and silver armor, it's black cowl pulled over its head, making it impossible to see his face.

For several seconds they stayed like that, then in a swift movement, both horse and rider were gone. Halt turned to Gilan, "See if you can track him down, we might be able to find the direction they come from." Gilan gave a quick nod and spurred Blaze in the direction they saw the Nightrider go.

Readjusting Daniels position, Halt swung up into the saddle behind him and nudged Abelard forward to the castle. Halt was a bit worried about sending Gilan out alone, but they couldn't risk the chance of not getting some sort of lead, and they definitely couldn't bring Daniel with without sentencing their own death from Alyss's wrath.

"Uncle Halt, where's Gilan going?" Daniel looked up at him with a innocent face. "He is going to see if he can have a word with that rider you saw." "Are they going to fight? Is Gilan going to be ok? Is Mommy going to be mad at us because we are out late again?" Halt sighed, having all his will power to not snap at the little boy. "Your just like your father." he muttered, unaware that Daniel heard him.

"Is that a bad thing?" Daniel asked after a small silence. "Is what a bad thing?" Halt asked him. "That I'm just like Daddy?" He looked up at Halt with those wide, dark brown eyes, with a almost sad look.

"No, it's a very good thing Daniel."