In the Return of Night

Writers: Stasha
Date Posted: 12th March 2008

Characters: Alasha
Description: Alasha wakes up to the sound of unwelcome guests
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 8, day 18 of Turn 4

The thick furs felt soft and warm against Alasha's exposed skin. After a day of riding, the bed had become the most inviting part of her stay.
She curled herself tighter under the sheets and nuzzled into the soft pillow.

The minor disturbance invoked a weak investigating trill from Zephyr, and he peered around the room with his partially closed eyes. He shut his most inner eye lids after a moment, followed by the second as he scanned over the weak outlines of the man and two women that had come with them. After his brief inspection he came to the conclusion that there was no need to be concerned, so he buried his small head back under his wing.

*********

The cothold was still as the two riders approached. Only the last of the hearth's smoke could be seen as it escaped from the chimney and merged with the cold air around the cothold. Everything else was sealed tight and silent, until Demashin and Iriek made it to the surrounding wall of the cothold...

*********

The sound of barking canines ripped Alasha out of her deep sleep. She looked around her attempting to identify where she was. It was so foreign to her to wake up anywhere beyond her bed at either the weyr or the cothold, and it took a moment before she recalled where she was.

Zephyr chattered at her wildly, as he sensed her fear, but once she regained her composure she calmed the airborne flit down.

"Shhh, it's okay Zephyr." She cupped the small firelizard from the air and cradled him in her arms, attempting to sooth his alarm. However, she still felt her intuition tell her that there was cause for concern.

Nelaso uncovered one of the glow baskets, as Rhasha entered into the room.

"Get dressed, hurry," Rhasha threw clothes at them before she disappeared down the corridor.

"Rhasha!" Murasha demanded answers.

The sound of Murasha's scowling voice forced Rhasha to pause for a moment.

Now was not the time to leave them in the dark. "Now tell me, what is going on?"

She hesitated before she replied. "There are two riders that just passed the gate. Eushanin is leaving to meet them at the gate as we speak."

Their pursuers? Alasha turned frantically back to her mother as Zephyr gave a warning hiss to the unseen danger.

Calm, Murasha reminded herself. "Alasha," she called for her youngest.
"Could you send Zephyr out to identify the two riders?"

Alasha shook her head. "No, he can barely even follow simple commands."

"Send him to your father then, with a message," Hedona suggested. That was simple enough.

No, he was still too young. "He doesn't understand how to do that yet." If only Alasha had had a little more time to work with him, maybe if Bortalis and Ranillis had shown up in two more months...
but time had proven never to be on her side. She turned desperately to Nelaso, who only sat and pondered the situation.

It was a hard knot for Nelaso to attempt to untie. He glanced at the flit who was still to young to be of much use. Their pursuers, who he was almost positive was Demashin and Iriek, were just outside. And to top it all off, only Rhasha truly knew what was going on, while they were keeping Eushanin in the dark. The moment he saw Demashin and Iriek and they explained the situation, he knew it would all be over.
Alasha would go with Bortalis and Ranillis, while he, his sister, and mother would be bound back to the cothold. And for the first time he realized he did not want to go back. His reasons for leaving spanned beyond his loyalty for Alasha and his mother. He had left to start a life of his own, one that did not involve his overbearing father and back stabbing brothers. No, he would not return back to Desamin.

"You aren't even dressed?" Rhasha hissed at them as she re-entered the room. "Eushanin is already almost there, and you are lounging around like fools?"

At that moment, Nelaso knew what they had to do. "You're right.
Everyone hurry up, I have a plan."

*********

Eushanin scratched his head in confusion as he allowed Demashin and Iriek passed the gates. First Murasha arrived with Rhasha's sisters and her brother, and now two more of them had come? Something did not fit, but he decided not inform Demashin and Iriek yet that the other members of their family were in the cothold already. He knew there was something wrong, and it uneased the man greatly.

The cotholder allowed the two younger men to leave their runners in the stables. As they tied them up, the two of them complimented him on his impressive collection of runners, but Eushanin had only one runner to speak of and they knew it. He knew that the presence of the other runners only informed Demashin and Iriek that their family members were indeed there.

"Is there anything we can serve you two after your long journey?"
Eushanin offered as they entered the cothold. He quickly spotted Rhasha in the living room.

She watched them for a moment, studying her brothers' expressions in the dimly lit room. The creases and pulls at their facial skin, the glint in their eyes. They knew, she realized, and then she saw the disapproving glare from Demashin. She only hoped that Nelaso's plan would work.

"Some fresh klah would be nice," Demashin replied after he held his stare with his eldest sister. She was hiding something from him.

"Rhasha," Eushanin waved his wife off. He gave her one more casting glance catching the desperation in her eyes. There _was_ something wrong, her look confirmed to him. Demashin and Iriek were not supposed to be here, and honestly he did not like their company either.
Something had gone terribly wrong in the cothold, and it was enough to drive Murasha and her other children away. "So tell me gentlemen. What brings you here at such a candlemark?"

"It seems there has been some confusion with some other members of our cothold, which resulted in their disappearances," Demashin responded before his half wit brother had a chance to respond.

"You mean they ran away," Eushanin read between his words.

"More or less," Demashin replied bitterly as he recalled the injury that it caused his father. They were here, he thought in irritation as Eushanin only delayed them with his uncertainty.

*********

Alasha watched from the darkness of the hallway as Demashin and Iriek sat impatiently waiting. She could feel the tension that projected from Zephyr as his eyes rolled into deep shades of red and his tongue flicked out. She could only calm him as much as she could so he did not fly out and attack the two of them.

"Are you ready?" Rhasha whispered as she came up from behind them.

Nelaso was still shocked that Eushanin had not revealed their presence yet, but he nodded silently and motioned for the others to come. He would take Eushanin's loyalty as luck and be done with dwindling on it any further. He would find a way to repay the man in the future.

Alasha followed Murasha and Nelaso with Hedona right behind her. They made their way down the back stairway that led into the kitchen.
Rhasha gave them a bag on their way out into the stables.

"What is this?" Murasha asked as she took the pack from her daughter.

"It's not much, but it's food, for the journey," Rhasha replied in her soft tone. She gave them one more parting smile before she mouthed "good luck" and sauntered out into the living room with the klah.

They filed out into the stables and quickly geared the runners. Nelaso helped his mother mount first as Alasha and Hedona climbed onto their own runnerbeast. Then as he was about to mount, he paused. His eyes fell on the two runners that his brothers had road in on. It was too easy...

*********

"Okay, we've had enough Eushanin," and Demashin truly had. He knew the cotholder was dancing circles around him, delaying them, wasting his time! "Now where are they?" Demashin was out of the chair now, with an eager Iriek at his side.

"What are you going on about?" Rhasha entered back into the room with a black stare from her eyes.

"You know what I'm talking about," Demashin replied. He had lost his patience now. "Now where is our mother, Alasha, Hedona and Nelaso?
They're here I know it."

A smile only formed on her face. "You are foolish Demashin, you always have been. They aren't here," and she took joy knowing she was telling them the truth.

"Don't lie to me sister," he warned.

"Demashin," she was surprised. "You know me almost as well as my husband. You know when I'm lying," she replied confidently.

He saw the truth that danced in her eyes as she took her place next to Eushanin. No, they were here! He refused to believe it, until he heard the sound of runners exiting the stables. They were here. "Your pride gives you away sister," he grinned maliciously back at her before he ran for the entrance. However, only horror over came him as he made it outside.

Instead of three, there were five runnerbeasts that ran fiercely across the fields towards the cothold gates. Demashin dashed for the open stables, but he already knew what he would see.

"By the Egg!" he roared out in fury.

"What is it Demashin?" Iriek appeared at his side before he peered into the stables. "Where are our runners?"

"Where are the runners?" Was his brother that blind? "You want to know where the runners are?" Demashin grabbed his brother, and forced his head to the gates and pointed a ridged finger. "_There_ are our runners, Iriek!"

********

Nelaso let out a whooping cheer as the four of them road out past the gates. He, Hedona, Alasha, and Murasha each road on a runner, while the fifth followed right behind them. They had finally escaped, all of them, and they were now well on their way to Dragonsfall. No longer could Desamin, or Bortalis, or Ranillis stop them.

In a sevenday they would finally arrive at the weyr. Alasha would secure herself in the life she had always dreamed of; Hedona would no longer be bound to a hold and would have the freedom to see Pern and follow what ever path she chose; Murasha would finally be united with the man that she loved, and Nelaso?

Nelaso looked to the horizon where the second moon was rising. He had a destiny out there. Perhaps he would go with Hedona and see the world with her, or maybe he would finally settle with a craft, like the harper hall. Now with his knew path, Nelaso was simply happy that he had the opportunity to choose, and he knew his choice would reveal itself in time...

Last updated on the March 12th 2008

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In the Return of Night