12/6/2010-12/7/2010 2/8/12

Janice Hatfield

The Night Can Not Last

Chapter 1: Light

Lying in a pool of water, I can feel the wetness being soaked up through my clothes and skin, all memory of light and warmth gone. I know only darkness and hunger, only the touch of him, the one who did this to me. Who keeps doing this to me. Closing my eyes I see his face and utter a silent whimper; my voice lost long ago. Hearing foot steps makes me shrink as far away as I can, pulling my wrist because of it's connection to the bed by a long metal chain that I'm sure would glint in the light if there was any.

Hearing voices I don't know, my eyes snap open and I think, 'No, Not again.' But I've come to expect their touch. One of the voices grows louder and I cringe away from it. Metal clangs and then the sound of something heavy and lifeless hitting the floor. Footsteps resume drawing closer to my cell. The door opens and I am flooded with a blinding light. Shielding my eyes, I look up at the figure in the doorway. He is tall, taller than the one who brought me here. A sword in one hand dripped a dark liquid that mixed with the pool on the floor. He smiled at me but bearing his teeth might have been more effective. I was terrified.

Walking towards me, the man lifted his sword and swung. I thought he was going to kill me so I shut my eyes and waited for the blow being already resigned to my fate of dieing in this hold. I wouldn't have been able to move even if I had wanted to.

Instead, I heard a loud ringing clang followed by, "Come on, I won't hurt you." He spoke like he would to an injured and frightened animal, in a rough but kind voice. I stared at him unblinking, like his words were a foreign language. He reached a hand towards me that looked safe, instead of like a claw that would grip you and never let go, but that was a foreign gesture to me and I did not know what he wanted me to do. I looked up at him fear and questions burning in my eyes. His smile grew gentler and he picked me up like I weighed no more than air and seeing as I had eaten naught but stale bread and ruined water for I don't know how long it wasn't hard to imagine why. I started kicking and screaming in my silent way. Tearing at his hair and skin not wanting to see what new kind of torture he would bring. I would welcome death before I went with this or any man again.

The tall one held me until I tired of moving, taking all the hits, which were more to the liking of taps, with out yelling or beating me. Then I started to do something I thought I could not do any more. I cried and cried and cried, turning the man's shirt wet where my head rested. He seemed to take it without any objections to my feeble protests.

"Who's that fire kitten you picked up, Captain?" Asked a man who looked as though he could be the twin to one whom had hurt me.

"I don't know. I just found her." the Captain paused in a reluctant manor, "Do you think she was…?"

The other man looked at me. His eyes reminded me of someone who was used to searching for something and always found it no matter how deeply buried a secret was. I cringed away from him, which made me bury myself deeper into the Captain's arms; not somewhere I liked to be but better than staring into the newest man's face.

"Yeah I think so. The bastard," He snarled, "It's a shame you killed him. I could think of worse punishments…" his eyes almost seemed to glow at the thoughts running through his mind.

"I think that it was best that I had killed him. Seems more humane," Captain replied, sarcasm tucked into every syllable.

"Exactly why just killing that monster wasn't good enough." a pause, "How long do you think she was here?" Now they were talking about me.

"Why don't you ask her?" the Captain said. The look-a-like man came closer and I noticed that his face wasn't nearly as hard as I first thought. His hair was pretty, like rays of sunlight, unlike the mop on my head that looked, and felt, like dried blood. His eyes were far gentler then the one who he resembled so closely. He had fine clothes, which seemed to be made of expensive materials. Silk? Maybe satin? I looked down at my own clothes, if they could be called that, and compared them with the pretty haired man. It was like trying to compare the Sun's radiant rays to meager candlelight.

"How long have you been here?" the pretty haired one asked addressing me.

"I-I don't know…I remember when they took me here; it was cold and snowing. Does that mean anything to you?" I asked in nothing much more than a whisper. The men's eyes widened but only for a second. Oh, how I wished they would stop looking at me.

"Would you like to come with us? Get some food, water, clothes, anything?" the Captain asked me. I looked for hidden meaning in those words and found none. This man had a voice I could learn to trust and maybe, just maybe, so did the sunlit one. I nodded yes to get out of my prison.

The Sunny haired one, Ryu he said his name was, gave me his cloak to wrap around myself. I both welcomed the cloak for the provided warmth but also pitied how the fine silk had to be dirtied and wasted by one such as myself. We walked down a long hallway, at least they walked I mostly hobbled with almost all my weight on the Captain, as I still refused to let Ryu get close to me. The hallway was brightly lit with lanterns hanging about every five feet from each other. The colors were Gold and Orange with red tapestries depicting battles and stories on them. One of the tapestries showed this very hallway all morphed and distorted with one of the walls slightly pulled away leading to a small chamber. With a shock I realized that the chamber in the tapestry was the very same cell I was kept in as a pet.

Noticing I stopped, Ryu said, "That is how we found you. It was a guess really. But a good one." He smiled at me and taking one of my hands continued walking. I didn't flinch away from him. Trailing after Ryu, I kept my eyes open staring at everything as if I had never seen it before. He led me through many halls and doors until we got to one door that stretched all the way to the ceiling. The door was framed in gold that seemed to twine all around its self like vines crawling up a garden terrace, but the thing that held my attention the most was the light emitted from the room beyond that door. Ryu pulled me through the door to, not another room, but outside.

The outside was cold but not the numbing cold of my cell. The ground was warm beneath my feet from long exposure to the sun. I tipped my head up, expecting to see more finery and a ceiling made of white marble with pictures of angels dancing and playing in clouds, and saw the sky. Gasping, I let my tears fall, this time gently, at the joy I felt at seeing that lapis lazuli blue with wisps of pulled cotton intertwined in it. I pulled my hands to my face, dropping Ryu's hold of them. He turned, his eyes questioning. I had missed the sky and warmth of the sun on my face. I noticed that the captain had walked away towards a group of horses. Though to call them mere horses was like calling the rags I wore silk. The horses were magnificent; none shorter than seventeen hands high and many taller. Their coats gleamed in the sunlight and were as versatile in color as there are kinds of people. There were gray dapples, bays and browns, paints, snowflakes and leopards. I took a step in their direction, mesmerized, then saw that mounted on the horses backs were nothing less than more men. Frightened, I rushed to Ryu cowering behind his back. One of the horsemen came forward to greet Ryu.

"Lord Ryu, How goes the hunting?" the horseman asked addressing Ryu with a curious glace in my direction that didn't turn into a stare only by sheer force of will and the training he received by being in a army.

"Captain got him and found this here little fire kitten," Ryu replied pointing at me without turning his back on the soldier.

"Oh? She doesn't look like much not even the appearance of a maid…?"

Ryu sighed and said with a tone of warning, "John fetch me my horse."

"Yes sir. What are the orders?" the horseman inquired.

"Right now," Ryu thought for a moment, "We break for camp."

"Here?" inquired John as staying in a manor such as this would be quite nice indeed.

Ryu glanced at me, "No, how bout at that river we found a couple miles back." It was a command not a question and John seemed to understand that.

"Yes sir," the horseman, John, left only to reappear again with Ryu's horse. She must have easily been the most beautiful horse there with fur the same color as Ryu's hair and a silvery main and tail. She had a little white star on her forehead and a sock on each of her back hooves.

"Hello beauty," I murmured at her, "my name is Katherine. I'm sorry I don't have an apple or carrot for you." I reached out a hand to stroke her nose and Ryu said, almost shouting,

"Stop! Vela doesn't like strange people," Ryu's voice lost its volume as he watched me lightly place my hand on Vela without the mare protesting, "touching her."

"That's a good girl," I said breathing on the mare's nostrils, letting Vela take my scent in. Vela was a tall for a mare, but then all these horses were exceptionally tall. "What breed is she?" I asked. I had never seen their like for all the years I worked with the creatures.

"Vela is an Iraeshan (I-rAy-sha-N) bread horse." Ryu answered my question with patience.

"One of the Mountain people's? But they never sell or interbreed their horses. How'd you get her?" I asked not believing what Ryu said. It was rare to even see the Mountain people let alone their coveted horses.

"We 'Mountain People', as you call us, have been…drafted to Ryu's army. And is it not right to have our leader on a proper mount instead of the pathetic looking beasts they call horses?" Captain had come back mounted upon his horse; a stallion the color of freshly split blood. I had not even heard the stallion's footfalls. "The men are ready and reluctant to move out," Captain said addressing Ryu who mounted Vela and reached out a hand.

"Would you like to ride with me?" his smile was warm but reminded me too much of him. I drooped my eyes in stark memory of the eternal night I spent not but hours ago. Ryu retracted his hand, his smile fading becoming sad; my face must have reviled my thoughts. I backed up to where Captain stood and, with his help, climbed up onto the front of his saddle.