In the Woods

Writers: Eimi, Yvonne
Date Posted: 12th April 2008

Characters: Mariss, Shadux
Description: Mariss encounters a few less-than-friendly men in the woods
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 9, day 1 of Turn 4

Mariss' breath puffed out before her like a dragon's smoke. The fur of her hood tickled her face as she looked up at the snowy sky and snowflakes tangled in her eyelashes. Her boots were new and much warmer than the ones she'd had at Amythest Cliff Hold, and were topped by soft white fur and a meandering design burnt into the leather. She was rather proud of them, and they meant that she was able to go walking for longer. The onset of winter in the mountains had driven everyone into the Hold and the stones reverberated with their voices.

Sometimes it just got to be too much.

Around her the blackened skeletal branches from the trees that had so recently born fruit and leaves rattled in the slight breeze. The wind bit her cheeks and stung her nose, but she didn't particularly care as long as the rest of her was warm. The path she was on meandered down and through the abandoned orchards to a stream that met up with the river -
it wasn't quite frozen yet, and she liked to see the water rushing over stones beneath the ice. Around the next bend, and she'd be back within the settlement's clearing. The Hold's lights already lit the snowy sky ahead.

She'd been trudging with her head down and her hands in her pockets, but something made Mariss look up. A young man stood leaning against the stone wall with his arms crossed, watching her. Their eyes met and something about him made her skin crawl. He smiled. "Hey."

"Hello," she said politely, but didn't stop walking. Unfortunately that meant her feet brought her closer - he was also standing near the orchard's gate. "What's your name?" he asked.

Mariss met his frankly assessing look with a challenge of her own.
Something didn't feel right. "Why?"

"I just want to know. I like knowing a girl's name." He grinned again and she saw he was missing a tooth. He uncrossed his arms and strolled over to the path she'd worn in the snow to intercept her. "Aren't you going to tell me?" he asked mockingly.

"Aren't you going to tell me yours, first?" Mariss shot back. "If I have to be accosted by a stranger in the woods, I'd like to know their name for later." The snow crunched behind her and she whirled to see a second man materialize out of the shadows of a tree. He finished buttoning up his fly and came to stand on the path behind her - just a shade too close. "It's dark out, you know," he said.

"This ain't no place for a girl like you, alone in the trees..." the first man trailed off and shot a look at the man behind her. Mariss turned so that she could keep an eye on both of them at the same time.
"Somebody ought to do something."

"Somebody ought to," the second man said slowly, then smiled.

A cold knot of fear was beginning to curl through Mariss' middle and her hands clenched in her mittens. This would never have happened at home.
At Amethyst Cliff, everyone knew who she was, and they wouldn't dare...
"It's been pleasant, lads, but I really must get back to the Hold. My father will be waiting for me." Her voice betrayed her nerves, and she swallowed and stepped off the path. The first young man suddenly grabbed her arm as she tried to pass him to get to the gate.

"What, you don't want to stay in our protective company?" he asked sweetly. His grip tightened on her arm and she knew that he could feel the way she trembled through the thick quilting of her coat. His tongue darted out from between his lips. "I don't think I can let you go walking out there, all alone in the dark, by yourself. What sort of man would I be if I let you walk on by?"

"Let me go," Mariss ground out.

"I dunno, do you think I should?" He looked at his friend, and his friend shook his head. "He agrees with me. It wouldn't be... proper."

The orchard gate groaned behind them and boots were heard to crunch on the freshly fallen snow. "No need, Zelnu. I'll be escorting the young lady back to the Hold."

A wave of emotions crashed dizzyingly through her - relief that she wasn't going to have to deal with the two men on her own, embarrassment that she needed help, and anger that it was Shadux, of all people, who'd shown up unexpectedly. Mariss yanked her arm from Zelnu's grip and stepped out of reach, giving him as black a look as she could manage.
"Sorry. Got to go."

Something flashed across Zelnu's face- an emotion she couldn't quite decipher. He turned to face Shadux. "The Steward's son... oh wait, you aren't anymore, are you, Shadux? Hows your dear old dad these days?" "Oh he's just fine," Shadux said with an exceedingly sweet smile. "You know I saw your father out in the field the other day with his favorite herdbeast. I was going to say hello, but, you know, they looked so happy together I thought it neighborly to interrupt them."

Zelnu's breath puffed angrily into the frosted air. "You wouldn't know my father if he came up and slapped you. You can't even find your ass with both hands." A rustle of movement caught Mariss' heart to leap into her throat, but it was only the other man, Zelnu's friend, slowly moving around the edge of the little clearing. Zelnu continued. "Why don't you just run on back into the nice warm Hold where you belong."

"Well, my work out here is done. I know _you_ wouldn't understand much about work, Zelnu, since all you do day in and day out is find your own ass with both hands, but..." Shadux turned to Mariss and extended his arm for her to take. "Shall we go back inside? I'm sure Cyrek would never forgive me if you missed the evening meal."

His mistake. Zelnu's friend suddenly stepped out of the shadows and gave Shadux a shove that sent him staggering - and into Zelnu's reach -
before Mariss could shout a warning. Zelnu's expression grew uglier as his fist shot out and landed with a crack on Shadux's cheek. "Scorching Thread-humper! You still think you're so scorching smart now?! At least _my_ father ain't an invalid leech!"

Shadux was momentarily stunned by the blow but as much as he was now in Zelnu's reach, that sharding bastard was in his as well. He couldn't take them both on, he knew, but at least he would get his licks in! With a feral growl Shadux hooked his arms around Zelnu's knees and with his shoulder plowed him straight backwards into the snow.
There was a flurry of white powder and for a moment the combatants were indistinguishable. The Shadux reappeared long enough to plant a solid fist on Zelnu's chin before he was kicked in the shoulder by Zelnu's friend. It was an unfair fight, and as much as she disliked Shadux she couldn't let him get beaten to a pulp, either. She looked around for a weapon but there was nothing but snow and branches. Zelnu's friend was trying to get in another kick but couldn't get a clear shot - his back was to her so she ran up behind him and used her warm new boots to deliver a vicious blow to the back of his left knee. He crumpled like a leaf.

Shadux instinctively rolled off of Zelnu at the sound, thinking that someone else had joined into the brawl. Instead he was surprised to see the big brute writhing in pain in the snow. His surprise was only momentary, as Zelnu took the chance to turn the tables. He leapt onto Shadux like an enraged feline, knocking him back. The snow offered little cushioning as he head slammed into the frozen ground painfully. Shadux planted his hands against the man's shoulders, trying with all his strength to push him off of him, but he was at the disadvantage in this position.

A soft boot landed squarely in Zelnu's side and drove the breath from his lungs before Mariss was pulled off balance by Zelnu's friend who lay in the snow. He grabbed her skirt and yanked and she fell backwards on top of him, but he pushed her off and she fell face-down in the snow. He had a hand on the back of her head and pushed her face in so deep she couldn't breathe.

Her kick had stunned Zelnu enough that Shadux could roll him off once again, but he saw as his friend held Mariss' head down. Scrambling to his feet he was able to stumble into the big one, using his shoulder as a ram. Shadux fell half on top of her in the process, but Zelnu was ready to pull him off and back up onto his feet, pinning his arms behind him and leaving him vulnerable for other one to lay into him. Mariss lay between them, but only for a heartbeat. She was up in time to get in the way of Zelnu's friend's fists, and some vestigial remnant of gentlemanly manners kept him from hitting her - so she balled her fist inside her mitten and slugged him in the stomach. It wasn't a particularly good shot but the surprise of it caused him to loose his breath. Her action apparently reminded him that even though she was a woman, she could still hurt him - and his hand shot out with a *crack*
and sent her sprawling.

"Mariss!" Shadux struggled against Zelnu's grip, trying to free himself, but he was held too tightly. "Why don't you come over here and try and take a shot on a man, you sharding bastard!" "Gladly!" His fists flew and hit Shadux in the stomach, his face, his chest, again and again. Zelnu went pale and dropped Shadux after a moment, and he fell forward onto snow sprinkled red with blood. "Shards, man! What do you think you're doing!?" his friend spat at him. "He'll just get up again!"

"Scorch that, dimglow! Let's get out of here." Zelnu looked shaken as Mariss crawled to her knees and brought her hands up to her face. "I only wanted a bit of fun, not this." His friend hesitated, then clambered to his feet and followed Zelnu into the trees.

"COWARDS!" Mariss screamed, but they didn't turn around. She crawled over to where Shadux lay and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Shadux?
Are you all right?"

His replied was muffled as he lay face-first in a pile of snow. The cold felt so good, he couldn't quite find the desire to stand up. He did bring his arm up to cradle his sore ribs. Shards, it was like Harper Classes all over again.

"Shadux, please. You have to get up." She glanced nervously over her shoulder at the dark orchard behind them. "They could come back. We have to go!"

"All right," he mumbled, pushing himself up weakly on his arms. "Juss... Juss give me a sec..."

Mariss helped him sit up as best she could, but winced when she saw his face. "You're bleeding!"

"I know." He reached up to touch his fingers to his split lip. "It will heal. It's not my first."

The cold was beginning to seep through her skirts and raise goosebumps on her legs. Mariss looked over her shoulder again, then back at Shadux.
His face was red and swollen, and one of his eyes was beginning to swell shut. All because of her. "You look terrible."

"You don't look much better," he said, reaching painfully into his pocket for a handkerchief. "Your nose is bleeding."

"What? Oh, shells." Mariss touched her nose gently and her mitt came away sticky with blood. She grimaced, then wiped her nose with the back of her mitten. Her father... shards, what would he say?! A shiver scampered down her spine, and she slowly rose to her feet and held her hands out to help Shadux. "We need to get back. Can you stand?"

"I think so." He didn't want to, but he knew he should. Shakily he got to his feet and slowly pulled himself up to a standing position. "Can you hand me some snow?"

"Give me your handkerchief first," she said, and when he handed it to her she filled it with loose snow and gently held it against his swollen lip. He looked awful even in the dim blue light that filtered through the trees from the moons above. "You won't freeze your skin this way...
or you're less likely to. Can you see straight?"

He nodded silently as he reached for the handkerchief. Though his eye was beginning to swell up, he could still see out of it. If it would puff up to the point he could not longer see out of it he didn't know, but he certainly didn't want to stay out here any longer. Mariss looped an arm around his waist and turned them both toward the Hold. For a moment she felt disoriented; it should be light, the Hold should be against the cliff... but no, this was Amber Hills Hold, not Amethyst Cliff. Memories clung to her like snowflakes hugged the wool of her coat and she did her best to shake them off. "How come you're out here, anyway?"

"I was at my sister's," he mumbled as he looped a heavy arm over her shoulder to steady himself, blinking furiously to keep the snowflakes out of his eyes.

"Thank Faranth you were. I can't imagine what might have..." she shook her head, shying away from the thought. Mariss had enough nightmares to contend with already. "Come on, let's get back to the Hold."

Last updated on the April 17th 2008

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In the Woods