Demons In The Night

Writers: Eimi, Yvonne
Date Posted: 16th April 2006

Characters: Mariss, Shadux
Description: Sleeping isn't easy after what Mariss has been through
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 11, day 3 of Turn 3
Notes: Follows 'Things To Do (part 2)'

The walls were closing in. A shower of glass cut her legs, her hands, her face, and she could smell the sickly sweet of jam in the dark. Mariss put out her hands to stop the shelves above her from crushing her, but they kept falling in, falling, trapping her, she couldn't breathe- breathe-

Mariss woke up gasping in the dark, her heart pounding and the sheets damp with sweat. She strained to hear something - anything! in the dark that would tell her where she was. Something moved beside her and she jerked away in fear, but Trouble's quiet chirp told her that it was her father's flit and not some nameless demon. Her head hurt and felt as though it was wrapped in wool - the last thing she remembered was Royani pressing something into her hands to drink...

The Steward's daughter swung her legs out of bed and stood. The cold, bare floor helped ground her as she groped in the dark for a light. Shadows pressed in around her, choking her, too close, too sweet- she could feel the walls folding in like flower petals, could feel the earth shake beneath her feet. **Stop it! You're imagining things!** But she was gasping for breath and her heart was beating like a drum. The world spun out of control, but suddenly Trouble was there, wrapped around her neck and cooing comfortingly. She put an unsteady hand on his back and finally found the door. Without knowing what she was doing, Mariss ran out of it and down the hall, and seeing the huge double doors ahead raced over and pulled them open, desperate to get _out_ and feel the cool night air on her skin.

The night calmed her. It was ordinary, and the moons' glow could be seen through the gathering clouds. She shivered and was grateful for Trouble's warm weight on her shoulders, but didn't want to go backin.

"Mariss?" a soft voice asked behind her.

Mariss jumped and spun, but turned her back again when she saw who it was. She crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself for warmth, but also because she felt a little... naked, dressed only in a sleeping gown. The cold air had brushed some of the cobwebs from her mind, but only sharpened the shame and hurt from earlier that day. Shadux was one of the _last_ people she wanted to see.

"Are you all right?" he asked concerned as he walked down the stepsbehind her.

"I'm _fine_." Her tone was sharp; she hadn't meant that. She only
wished he'd go away. She was outside in the middle of the night in only a nightgown and bare feet. That certainly didn't sound fine to him.

"It's cold out here. Wouldn't you be more comfortable inside by a fire?"

"No!" Mariss closed her eyes and tried to swallow the panic that
'inside' aroused. The walls would fall in, she'd be buried alive,
there'd be another earthquake and this time she wouldn't be so lucky and would die alone in the dark... **No.** "I'm fine, really."

Shadux frowned slightly. "But its cold out here. You'll catch yourdeath."

She shook her head; her dark hair fell around Trouble in waves.
Usually she kept her hair braided for bed. "I'll be fine. I just needsome air."

"Well, do you intend to be out here for a while?" he asked, resigned. She had a hard day. Shards, they had to drug her to get her to settle down. He felt a little guilty about that, but it seemed to be the only way. Shadux just couldn't bring himself to doing it again.

Mariss snorted and rubbed her hands against her cold arms. "Does it matter what I think?"

He frowned slightly. Shards, but she was turning into a difficult girl. "Well, yes. If you're intending to be out here longer, I suppose I should find your shoes and a jacket for you."

A breeze brushed against her legs and Mariss shivered. She looked up at the sky above her and tried to quash her fear. There wouldn't be another earthquake, and she was freezing herself simply to tell off the man who had made a fool of her earlier that day. There was such a thing as cutting off one's nose to spite your face... but shards, did she wish she was anywhere but here. With anyone but him. Except there was no where else to go... her shoulders slumped, defeated, and Mariss turned and began climbing the stairs back to the Hold. Trouble, catching her mood, hissed at Shadux as she passed him.

He rolled his eyes at the little flit. Shadux didn't need the
reminder of Mariss' obvious displeasure with him. "Are you back to bed then?" he asked following her up the steps to the Hold door.

"I haven't got anywhere else to go." Shadux pulled the door open for her, but Mariss hesitated on the threshold, gripping the frame with a white-knuckled hold that put starbursts of pain behind her eyes. But she couldn't go forward. The walls fell in, the ground shook, the dark pressed close, smelled sweetness- her heart racing, she whirled back outside and pressed her back against the closed door while Trouble crooned comfortingly. "I- I'll be a moment. Go on ahead."

"Mariss, what is going on?" he asked gently. Shards he hoped she wasn't going to go hysterical on him. "Please, if you tell me what is going on, maybe I can help."

She shook her head and buried her face in her hands. "I- it's
stupid." **I'm scared of the dark. Of being trapped. I don't want to be alone.** She dug her knuckles into her eyes and forced her ragged breathing into something a little more even before raising her head again. "Never mind. You wouldn't- you weren't there. I'll be fine." She forced herself to step away from the wall and the safety of open spaces and into the confines of the Hold, her head held high and her hands balled into fists at her sides. She would not be scared... but she could feel herself shaking.

"There's a fire in my father's office. Do you want to come and sit with me there? Maybe have a drink?" He quickly raised his hands to stem off any objections. "Not one with anything that isn't naturally found in it, I promise."

Tempting... but she didn't trust him. Mariss shook her head and
backed a few steps away. "No. Thank you. I- I don't want to trouble you."

"Well, as you can see, I'm not asleep either." He sighed. "All
right. I can show you back to the infirmary again if you like.
Unless you remember the way."

She seemed to shrink into herself. "No."

"Would you like me to show you the way? Or is there somewhere else you would like to go?" he asked carefully.

**Home...** But there was no home left to go back to. Mariss was
stuck in a place that stripped her of self-worth and left her lost in a jumble of hallways and strange faces. "Just- show me the way back."

"All right," he nodded, offering her his arm.

She tentatively took it, hating her own timidity. Trouble hissed
again and she shushed him. "If you're going to be rude, go back to Da."

"He doesn't like me much, does he," Shadux asked, watching the bronzewarily.

Mariss thought of a number of replies, but discarded them all as
being too... mean. Even if he'd betrayed her trust and insulted her intelligence, that didn't give her leave to live up to the image that Royani had painted of her. "He's had a hard day," she said instead.

The assistant steward nodded and sighed. "Haven't we all."

Mariss looked sideways at him. **You have _no_ idea,** she thought.

Last updated on the April 18th 2006

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Demons In The Night