A Mouse's Tale

Chapter 16

"Mouse!" the voice brought her back out of the darkness as her eyes flew open and she sharply sat up. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, her breaths short and fast as her eyes danced around the room before falling on the girl who sat beside her, illuminated by the soft light of a candle.

"Mouse, are you alright?" she asked, placing a gentle, concerned hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine, Arya," Mouse replied, feeling herself relax, all of the built up tension flowing out of her body. It had been just a dream... well more like a memory turned into a nightmare. She shuddered as she recalled the day that the King and Queen had died. She sent a silent prayer of thanks to the Creator that Arya had not wanted to move into their room after being crowned the new Queen. By right, it was her room now, but Arya did not feel right about moving into it right away, not after what had happened before her eyes in there. Even after the Physicians had cleaned and sterilized the room to be sure that it was clear of any traces of the Plague that had taken her parents, Arya still did not want to move into the Great Chambers. She often stated that it was a room meant for the King and Queen, two people, not just one, and that she would not move into it until she was married, if she ever did get married. Mouse was perfectly content with staying in Arya's current chambers as she was afraid of what sort of presences could be lurking around still in that room. She had never returned back to that secret passageway that she had found, for the memory still upset her.

Mouse couldn't understand why her subconsciousness had sent her back to that memory, or why it had turned it into the nightmare that she had just experienced.

Maybe it was Marcus' anger that triggered it, she mused, reflecting on Marcus' reaction to their visit to his chambers earlier that day. I don't understand why he is so angry all the time. Why can't he just accept that his sister is the ruler and not him? They are family after all. Why doesn't he see that? Mouse sighed, shaking her head as if to shake away any remnants of the horrors of her nightmare.

"Mouse, don't tell me you're fine," Arya insisted. "You were screaming! Something has to be wrong."

"It was just a nightmare, Arya," Mouse sighed, smiling slightly at the thoughtfulness of Arya's concern. "No need to worry."

"You mean to say that your screaming woke me up for nothing?" Arya glared at her. "Then I even get out of my nice, warm bed to see what was wrong and you send me away with a 'Oh, it was just a nightmare, don't worry, go back to bed.' For all I knew, you could have been getting murdered. I could have just ignored you and gone back to sleep, but no, I'm a good friend like that and when I check up on you, you shrug it all off as if it's no big deal!"

"I never told you to go back to bed," Mouse pointed out. "But I'm thankful to have such a kind and caring friend that would come and wake me from my nightmares. I do appreciate that. It's just sometimes you don't want to talk about your nightmares, you do want to go back to those dark places." She shuddered again.

"I'm sorry," Arya patted her shoulder gently. "If I could protect you from your nightmares I would." Her words rung through Mouse's ears. Protect you. Protect her. The words were eerily close to King Terian's in her nightmare.

Why did he keep saying that? she wondered. That's what I have already sworn to do, so why would he keep telling me to protect her?

"Thanks," she heard her voice responded with a smile. "And I would do likewise, if I could."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going back to sleep," Arya said, standing up from the bed.

"I may go for a walk," Mouse shrugged. "Clear my head a little."