The moment Cassius's words left his lips, silence blanketed the square.
"…the song of celebration, 'The Lull of The First Breath.'"
Gasps rippled through the gathered crowd. For they knew exactly which song he spoke of, and it wasn't a song of mourning, nor a dirge for the dead.
No, it was a birth-song, a sacred chant sung only when a child was born into the world. A song to welcome life, to wish a newborn health, love, and long years under the heavens' gaze.
To sing it now, here, with hundreds about to die, was not only unexpected, it was, to many, almost blasphemous.
Murmurs rose, hesitant and strained. Faces turned from one to another, torn between outrage and confusion. Could they truly twist such a holy song into a dirge for vengeance?
Cassius watched them, smiling faintly, his eyes sharp under the torchlight. He let them hesitate for just a moment longer before lifting his hand again.
