A House Filled With Night

When late autumn arrived with all its chilly nights, the city of Eidar divided into two groups: those who were cold, and those who were not. Those who were not cold lived in the terrace houses of Willow Avenue, the extravagant estates along the main park, or in Lord Cargan’s palace. Those who were cold lived in dark neighborhoods and alleyways which weaved throughout the city, where people were dirty and forgotten. Runa was, and had always been, one of the cold ones.

This didn’t matter too much to her. It had always been this way, so she had nothing to compare it to. Furthermore, worrying over it would do nothing to benefit her. She spent most of her time working in the shop, which kept her distracted from the coming winter. Here, they shipped in all sorts of exciting and unexpected delights during the cold season: exotic fruits, bright flowers, richly colored clothes, golden honey, and the like. They were both completely unattainable and completely useless to her, but it was nice to be around them all the same.

“Apples…” Her employer, Mr. Heikki, was muttering darkly to himself about fruit selection once again. “Apples, apples—apples up to my ears! There are far too many apples this fall, and my customers are sick of them. Well, I’m growing sick of them, too!”

Runa laughed awkwardly as she passed him another crate of apples. She hadn’t had an apple that wasn’t half rotten since September.

“Have those useless boys loaded all the food at last?” Mr. Heikki asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“You best get a move on, then. Lord Cargan has been planning this party for months, and I want him to be pleased with our service. Make sure all the arrangements are beautiful. I’m trusting you.”

“Yes, sir. I will.”

“And here, take one of these accursed apples.” He tossed one to her. “Go on. And go quickly!”

Stuffing the fruit into her bag, Runa ran off as quickly as she could—before Mr. Heikki had a chance to change his mind about apples once again. Even if he could sound a bit snobbish about food sometimes, it wasn’t his fault for not being born poor. At least she got an apple out of the deal.

Soon, Runa soon found herself travelling toward the palace in the shop’s small cart. She was tucked cozily between two large bags of oranges and weighed down by five boxes of fancy cookies on her lap. The four boys from the shop, who did all the loading and unloading, were chattering incessantly. They, like Runa, had never been to the palace before. Unlike Runa, they were extraordinarily excited to see it for the first time.

“There’s going to be a giant swan made out of chocolate,” one was saying.

“What! That’s ridiculous. You made that up just now, didn’t you? Like you made up that story about the pretty girl last night.”

“It’s true, I swear! They have chocolate swans and even more. There’s going to be rooms covered in jewels, statues carved out of ice, candy goblets you can eat after drinking, dancers with fire in their mouths and—and so many things you’ve never witnessed in your life. I heard it straight from my cousin. He’s a soldier. His regiment is posted there.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Well, Jarl, you’ll just have to see it yourself then, won’t you? You’ll believe me by the end of tonight.”

“Sure I will, when I actually see it. Seeing is believing.”

“I can believe it,” said another. “I heard it would be one of the biggest parties in the entire kingdom.”

“Obviously! Haven’t you even looked at all the food we’re bringing?”

“Hey…do you think they’ll be there?”

“Who?”

“You know…” the boy sounded eager but a little hesitant. His friends had to prod him on for a while more before he finally got out: “The Sons of Midnight.”

They all laughed.

“Ha! You’ve been listening to old ladies’ gossip, haven’t you?”

“No! No, I—”

They slapped him on the shoulders. “Come on, be honest.”

“Maybe a little.”

They laughed even harder.

“Everyone’s heard rumors by now!”

“Everyone’s grandmother!”

“That’s not true. Even your dad, Donnan! I heard him!”

“Alright, alright, maybe he has a little bit of a point. Anyway, all the old ladies in my neighborhood certainly won’t shut up about them.”

“Wait, who are we talking about?”

“You don’t know?”

“Well—”

“Kian doesn’t even know who the Sons of Midnight are! What do you think we’ve been talking about?”

“Donnan—”

“I heard they’re even more dangerous to the unsuspecting ones. If you don’t watch out tonight, they’ll come and get you!”

“Hey!”

A particularly unkind bump in the road made Runa jump a little, and she held on to the boxes more tightly.

“Okay, very funny. So who are they? Just tell me already.”

“That’s the thing. Nobody knows who they are or where they come from. They just appear out of nowhere. All these strange, fantastical things happen. Beyond all imagination, they say. And then they all just disappear, just like that!”

“Eh, I don’t know, that definitely sounds like old woman’s gossip to me.”

“We’ll have to see, then, won’t we?”

The boys remained loud and chatty all throughout the ride to the palace. In fact, their excitement only grew as the fuzzy image of a distant palace became a clear, crisp reality. Once they began actually unloading cargo and entering the palace, Runa was pretty sure she had become invisible to them. If nothing else, she found some comfort in their brazen lack of fear as they continued telling all sorts of scandalous stories about the palace and its occupants. Unfortunately, she could not stay with them forever. She had to get to work in the ballroom.

Dainty cookies flew onto platters and oranges piled into precarious pyramids as she did her best to set up everything as quickly and beautifully as possible. She wanted nothing more than to leave. The giant palace had begun to make her feel uncomfortable. Everything was too big and glittery. Even the servants there looked as regal as kings and queens.

She breathed a satisfied sigh of relief when the job was finally done. The next moment, her relief was crushed by an awful realization. She was all alone. A rock fell into her stomach. How on earth would she find her way out of there? She had followed the boys on the way in, and there was no telling if she could find her way back out on her own.

She glanced at the bronze clock on the wall and bit her lip. It was no use waiting for the someone to come and find her. For all she knew, everyone from the shop could be halfway back to town by now. This left her no choice but to wander out of the ballroom on her own in hopes that the exit might miraculously appear before her. It soon became apparent that this would not be the case. It only took about five minutes to become completely lost.

“Where to go, where to go…left? Maybe?”

Left was not the way to go. She ended up in the royal gardens. She tried to convince herself this was good because at least she was outside now. But the sky had already grown dusky, in the back of her mind, panic had begun to bubble. Any moment now, it might boil over.

Just then, a couple of young noblewomen entered the gardens. Runa sighed. As a general rule, she avoided anyone richer than her employer. It could only lead to trouble. But desperation breaks every rule, and Runa had certainly become desperate.

With the caution of a cat, she approached the noblewomen and curtsied awkwardly. “Pardon me, but…I’m afraid I’m a little lost. Could you maybe tell me where the, er, east palace gate is?”

“Who are you?”

Runa glanced up at the young woman’s face. Her lashes and eyebrows were painted a sooty black, making her suspicious, quirked brow look even more dramatic. It wasn’t the sort of response she had hoped to receive.

She curtsied again, a little lower. “I—my name is Runa, madam.”

“Runa?” She smacked her lips when she spoke. “And why are you here, girl? Do you even know where you stand? Do you know to whom you speak?”

“I—I—”

“I am Sabia, the daughter of Lord Cargan. And this is his palace! A girl like you has no business here. It is a crime you even made it this far.”

“Oh, but madam, I was here on business. I was—”

“Business, to be sure! And what were you peddling, hm? Stockings? Pocket-watches?”

“No, I only meant—”

“Flowers? Handkerchiefs?”

“No, that’s not it at all, I—”

“How audacious you are! How dare you talk back to me in this way. Guards! Guards!”

For about ten seconds, Runa stood completely still, her mouth wide open. Slowly, she turned toward the pounding sound behind her. A substantial crowd of about five palace guards were running in her direction. She considered the fact that she was innocent and had no reason to run. Then she considered the fact that each of the guards had a sword strapped to their belt. That’s when Runa started running.

I’m never talking to rich people again. Ever.

She ran back through the doors from whence she had come and down hallway after hallway. She could hear the rapid footsteps and shouts echoing along the walls, always just behind her. Runa groaned in between breaths. She was headed farther and farther away from the outside and farther and farther into the heart of the palace. Another random door brought her into a servants’ corridor, bustling with endless maids, busboys, and servers. She paused, wondering if she should go back. No, back was not an option. Back meant getting caught. So she ran, and kept running, apologizing breathlessly the whole way.

When she burst through the door at the end, every sensation immediately exploded. Her eyes swam with light and color; her nose flooded with delicious scents; her ears filled with the sound of music moving amidst a huge crowd.

Her heart dropped. In the end, Runa had arrived back in the ballroom. But this time, there were lords and ladies instead of a couple of boys from the shop.

For a moment, she didn’t do anything but stand in place and stare stupidly out at the crowd. On the other side of the room, a couple of palace guards had just entered. She knew there were more coming from behind. She was trapped.

Desperately, she looked right, left, up and down, until finally settling upon her own fruit display. She ran for the table and dove beneath its tablecloth. Her knees hit the floor hard. She could hear her own heart pounding.

She remained that way: kneeling, panting, frozen in place, for more than half an hour, before she gathered enough courage to lift up the tablecloth and peek around. Her heat sank. There were guards posted at every exit.

How to escape? Perhaps they wouldn’t notice if she walked out with some of the servants. But she looked nothing like them. How could she risk it?

Runa’s shoulders slumped.

“Well, you might as well get comfy,” she whispered to herself. “You could be here for a long time.”

She would just have to wait until the party was over. That was all there was to it. It wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. The view was pretty entertaining, and the music was nice.

Despite this, Runa soon began to nod off, her forehead pressing into one leg of the table. Her nap didn’t remain uninterrupted for long. But it wasn’t a loud noise or a flash of light that woke her—it was a sudden, sharp silence. One moment, laughter and music; the next, absolutely nothing. Runa opened her heavy eyelids and leaned forward. No, she wasn’t imagining it.

Quietly, painfully slowly, she pinched the edge of the tablecloth and lifted it, just inches above the ground. Unconsciously, her mouth fell open a little.

Something was swirling throughout the room, snaking through the legs of dancers as they parted to give way. An unnatural mist, thick, pale green, and heady, filled the air. Through the cloud, the dark silhouette of five men gradually became clearer. When she saw their eyes, Runa couldn’t help but gasp.

She had never seen them in her life, but she knew them in an instant.

“The Sons of Midnight,” she whispered.

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~ A/N ~

Welcome, everyone, to my story! If you made it all the way down to this author’s note, you are my new favorite person. Come get some kisses.

In all seriousness, I hope you enjoyed it and that you’ll give my story a good read. I will gladly accept any feedback, thoughts, fun facts, random tangents, etc.

Expect a new episode every Friday evening!

Have a lovely day :)

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