While Heila answered Liam's questions and Lord Jalal prepared his human charge to protect himself, twenty members of the Soft Paw clan quietly made their way through the branches above, using them like roads until they reached the head of the army and descended to the forest floor.
Each man wore a dark cloak, similar to Lord Jalal's but where the tunic he wore beneath the cloak was covered with gemstones, these men wore only a handful of diamonds, arranged in a neat pattern over their hearts to resemble a curled horn that the Eldritch would call The Trumpet of Dawn, after the constellation that appeared just before sunrise during the long days of summer.
On their backs, each man carried a large, double-flared drum the size of a keg of ale, along with a small wooden frame to set the drum on while it was played.
