**I apologize for the long wait, but I hope you will find it worthwhile. This is the second-last part.... Enjoy.**

Heart, heart, heart

Beating, beating, as a clock

Tics nearby upon a shelf

Throb, throb breathing lungs

Moon traces down a path

Drip, drip, those saline eyes

Now, now, stop, stop…

I saw your eyes grow and pause

You passed from dark to light.

Marrick took one look at the notice and tore it down. He ripped it in half and tossed it in the trashcan, then glanced back at Brynt.

"And you were just 'released'?"

"Apparently they have an odd way of determining whether someone should be allowed back into the public. They let me in even though you're probably more ready than I am." Brynt glanced at Marrick from the side. "What are you planning on doing?"

"Where have the police been alerted?"

On the crest of the hill

   Dominica awoke to crashes in the house that she shared with her parents and brother. Leaping out of bed, she grabbed the dagger that was on her bedside table and dove into her closet to hide.

  When the crashes stopped, she left her hiding place and crept downstairs. She peeked into her parents' room.

  Empty.

  She then checked her brother's room.

  Empty.

  Dominica ran to the living room and looked out the front window. She made out  shapes in the darkness, hurrying away from her house. She figured that her brother and parents had been kidnapped.

Hush little baby don’t say a word.

Momma’s gonna buy you a mocking bird.

To war!  To war!

With brandished sword

And pointed spear

And arrows bent

And banners raised

We lift our voices high!

For life and land

Queen and kin

We shout out to the sky!

To war!  To war!

We might not return

But fear do we spurn

We voice our battle cry!

To war!

So the Fairy Folk sang as they marched to battle.

**Part eight, and we're not quite at the end yet. Enjoy.**

Ariach swung again, thrusting at my side.
I swung with all my might, trying to knock his sword away. The collision of our blades rang out over the crowd’s roar.
Vibrations shook my blade, and it fell to the ground. Ariach's dagger remained fixed at my chest. I sank to my knees.
I was dead. There was no doubt about that. Ariach reached over and cut my helmet strap. He stared at me for a long time. I wondered what was going through his mind. A tear rolled down his cheek.
He bent down, raising his sword high-
And handed it to me.