Dedication: For Strapless. Happy Birthday, my friend!

Disclaimer: You know the drill – it's not mine.

Dashing Ghosts

'Go on,' said Farant. 'I dare you.'

The other Riders- most of them male and senior members of the military group- snorted and laughed. Miri felt her cheeks start to burn.

'What-' teased Padrach, 'too scared?'

'No, she's just female.' Farant was determined to taunt her into doing this.

Hands tight on her reins, Miri stared at the offending object in front of her. It was the crumbling remains of an old castle, long deserted. Someone, at some time, had called this "home" – but now it was just a dilapidated skeleton.

The rumours said it was haunted.

'This was a waste of time,' groaned one of the other Riders.

There were not many things that scared Miri now- accomplished sailor, rider, and fighter as she was- but unexplainable apparitions fit into that small group quite snugly.

The boys had not known this, of course. No, this was just another of their games on their day off together. The female Riders had wisely gone shopping and Miri (who was being particularly organised this year and already had all her Midwinter gifts bought and wrapped well in advance) had stupidly stayed at the barracks. That was how she had got dragged out here. Supposedly, they were all going for a "nice afternoon's ride".

But the boys had had turned it into their form of a practical joke. Well- a kind of initiation ceremony, really. They wanted her to spend the night in the tower of this haunted ruin alone.

Evin rode at Miri's side, their legs occasionally bumping as their ponies shifted weight beneath them. He had been quiet up until now, but at Farant's last sexist comment, he spoke up.

'I've seen Miri out-shoot, out-ride and out-drink you, Farant, so I don't think you can blame anything on her sex.'

The others jeered. Miri ground her teeth together in annoyance, wiping her sweating palms on her breeches as their laughter rang in her ears. Damn them all.

'Well I still say,' Farant rejoined, 'that if it wasn't for her being a woman, she'd be in there without any qualms.'

'Nah,' piped up another, 'it's because she's common. If she was one of these upstart noble women, she'd be there like a shot. Like that Mindelan lass, with the Chamber. They all think they're the best thing since sliced bread nowadays.'

Miri bristled.

Before she could retaliate, Evin jumped in again. 'You obviously need to meet one of these upstarts, Hadren. I'm sure you'd change your mind.'

'Come on,' said Padrach, tugging on his reins. 'Let's go home before it gets too dark. Miri's obviously not going to do it.'

'Women,' sighed Farant. Miri knew he was not being nasty- he was simply trying to taunt her. Even still, she squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to find that extra ounce of courage or for the earth to swallow her up.

'Didn't you sail through a storm, Miri?' questioned someone. She couldn't reply.

'At least she's good with her weapons. Send her against a bunch of Stormwings any day, but just don't tell her to lead a raid against a castle!'

They laughed.

'That's it!' cried Miri, dismounting all of a sudden and nearly catching her foot in the stirrup.

The men paused, eyebrows raised and grins large among their beards and moustaches.

'Change of heart, my dear girl?' asked Farant. Miri shot him a glare and busied herself with her saddlebags.

Frowning, Evin ushered his long-legged steed forward. He leant low in the saddle, hissing his words as quietly as he could.

'Miri, you don't have to do this. Don't make them force you into anything!'

Hands trembling, she fixed him with an angry stare. 'Don't make this worse, Evin.'

His eyes widened in surprise. 'You can't be… Miri, you're not afraid of losing face with us, are you?'

Ignoring his question, she slung her pack over her shoulder and handed him the reins to her pony. 'Will you take her back and brush her down for me?'

'Miri-'

'It's the least you can do.'

'Miri!' He was starting to go red in the face and on any other occasion she would have found it comical.

Instead she set her jaw grimly and pivoted on her heel. Now she was facing the ruins again. They loomed up ahead of her, looking gloomy and foreboding as the daylight began to seep away.

Taking a deep breath, she started out across the grassy stretch. The sedge and weeds were tall and whispered as she walked determinedly through them. Even they seemed to be mocking her.

'Miri!' yelled Evin again, but she continued to ignore him. It wouldn't do him any harm.

--

The castle ruins were not quite as scary as she'd expected. They were cold and dark and damp, and that gave them a despairing atmosphere, but she could easily attribute the strange noises to the wind and to the wild animals roaming the woods outside.

She had heard the men laugh and joke and persuade Evin to leave as she collected firewood in the ceiling-less halls. Only when the sounds of their ponies had faded away did she enter the tower.

Her hands were trembling as she went inside but she had forced herself to continue. After all, the bet was only won if she spent the night in the tower. The halls and barracks weren't good enough.

She had tread carefully up the first flight of crumbling spiral stairs and settled on one side of the round room. This was as far up as she'd go.

Originally she had thought to make a fire, but she soon decided that if anything happened she'd rather not see it coming. In the darkness, alone with her shivers and thoughts, she could pretend everything was caused by a fox or bat.

As the night wore on, Miri dozed fitfully but she was too anxious to sleep properly. Her nerves were pulled taut; every sense and every part of her body was tingling.

Once she was jolted out of sleep by a noise downstairs. She sat motionless for a moment, her breath making swirling clouds in front of her. Then she grappled around in the dark until she found a sturdy length of wood. With her improvised weapon across her lap, she drifted into sleep once more.

Miri was woken up again by noises below. Something was in the ground floor room of the old tower. Instinctively, Miri's hands clenched around the wooden stake. Her heart beat quickened. She prayed the thing would go away.

It didn't.

In fact, it started up the crumbling staircase; heavy footsteps on cold stone.

Panting, Miri scrambled across the floor. She pressed her back against the wall by the doorway and positioned the staff in her hands. She tried to calm her breathing-- but there was the fear that if it was something ghostly coming for her, no amount of hitting it with a stick would help.

The footsteps continued. Miri started to count them. One. It was getting closer. Two, three. Nearly at the top of the stairs now. Four. The last step.

Five.

As the thing came out into the room, Miri swung with all her might. The wood collided with its stomach. It was definitely real, and went "oof" as the air was knocked from it.

A hand reached out and grasped Miri's arm. Miri screamed and made ready with her bat again. The person yelled out in reply.

Then- gasping for breath- they cried, 'Miri!'

She froze. 'Evin? Is that you?'

He released her and, gasping for breath, leant against the wall. 'Yes, of course it is!'

With a cry of anger, Miri threw her makeshift weapon to the ground. 'What are you doing here? Eurck, I could tan your hide, Evin Larse!'

'Haven't you done enough already?' he gasped.

Miri scowled in the darkness and paced across the room. 'Why are you here?'

'Well, that's friendliness for you,' muttered Evin. 'I came to join you in the glory. I couldn't let you have all the fun now, could I?'

'Fun?'

'I've never seen a ghost before.'

'And you think it'll be fun? Sometimes I really think you need to get your head looked at, Larse.' With an impatient sigh, Miri sunk down on the floor next to her packs and discarded firewood. Wriggling around, she tried to get comfortable on the stone.

On the opposite side of the round room, Evin copied her actions, his breathing gradually slowing down to normal.

'That was one mighty hit, Miri.'

'Good. It served you right.'

Quiet slowly settled back down on the ancient tower, and Miri found her anger leaving her. With a heartfelt sigh, she asked more softly, 'What are you really doing here, Evin?'

There was silence. Finally- 'Miri, remember the night you had a bit too much to drink?'

She grimaced. 'Which one?'

'The one in Caynn, with the rum.'

'Ah, yes; how could I forget? What about it?'

'Well, I helped you back to your room, like the gentleman I am-' (Miri snorted) - 'and made sure you were comfortable. But on that trip back to the inn, you were very chatty.'

Miri froze. Oh dear Gods, what had she said? Her memory of that night was so pitted with questioning blanks that she could not be sure her behaviour had been appropriate.

'In amongst the tales of your childhood,' continued Evin, not sensing the tenseness in his friend, 'you told me of one evening as a young girl, when you got lost- alone- on a rocky cove, some way from home. You found the ruins of a recent shipwreck – and her crew.'

Miri closed her eyes momentarily as she remembered.

'How you weren't sure, in the moonlight, if the corpses were men- or ghosts.

'Even being told that story by a drunken, fully-grown woman at my ripe old age, it still sent chills down my spine. I'd be petrified of bumping into half-drowned seamen after that.'

Miri shivered. This was not helping. 'Evin…'

'So I couldn't very well let you spend the night with some ghoulies all on your own, could I?'

'But now the whole point of me staying here will be void, Evin. I can't win the bet if I'm not alone.'

Evin moved so that he was sitting next to her, their shoulders touching. 'What they don't know can't hurt them.'

'And what will you tell them in the morning, when they ride out and find you already here?'

'They're not coming.'

'What?'

'They've got a meeting with Commander Buri.'

Miri frowned. 'Why haven't we got to go?'

'Because we did so splendidly in our advanced summer training.'

Miri sighed. 'I only just scraped through that with the skin on my teeth.'

'I don't know what you're talking about, my dear fisher-girl; you did wonderfully.'

'Not as well as you,' she muttered grumpily.

'We can't all be as good as me!'

She elbowed him in the ribs.

'Ow! And this is the treatment I get after I so graciously got rid of the others to ride out to your rescue!'

In the darkness, Miri rolled her eyes. 'I think I should worry about your skill at scheming.'

Evin slipped his arm around her shoulders. 'You love me just the way I am.'

'Don't flatter yourself.'

Their banter died away but Miri found she was not so afraid of the ghosts now. She was glad, too, of Evin's extra body warmth and found she had tucked herself securely against his chest.

He yawned.

'Thanks for coming, Evin,' she whispered.

She could hear the smile in his quiet voice: 'Anytime, my dear.' He kissed the top of her head and she sighed peacefully.

--

Miri woke in the morning with an awful ache in her lower back. She had slept half sitting up and half curled against Evin and it had not been a good combination. Luckily, there had been no ghostly visits during the night; everything had been peaceful after Evin arrived.

Now Evin lay on his back by her side, idly scratching his stomach. He watched her as she stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

'Happy dreams?'

Miri pulled a face. 'Sleeping next to you? –Pah. I don't know how all those women can stand you in their bed.'

Lazily, Evin curled his long limbs into a sitting position. 'That, my dear Miri, is because I am very good at pleasuring women.'

Miri felt her cheeks begin to flush, and she hurriedly turned her back on him to rummage in her packs. She really didn't want to know about the details of his sexual expertise.

'I'm thinking about growing a beard. What do you think?'

She spun around, her eyes wide. 'Are you serious?'

'Completely. I think a little blonde moustache and a refined beard would make me look very dashing.'

Miri laughed. 'Then you really do need your head looked at.'

'Don't you think I'd be dashing, Miri?'

He caught her eyes with his and Miri momentarily found herself breathless. Then the moment passed and she scowled, averting her eyes.

'No.'

He sighed. 'Well, I'm sure some ladies will think differently.' Leaping to his feet, he gave her a questioning look. 'It's cold in here. Shall we go? That is, unless you're not finished with your ghostly inspections.'

Miri shivered. She slung her pack up onto her shoulder. 'One day they'll find out about this, you know.'

'Not from me. It'll be our little secret night together.'

'You have a dirty mind, Evin Larse. One day it'll get you into trouble with those women that think you're so dashing.'

Evin hung back as he watched his old friend disappear through the doorway to the spiral stairs.

'One day you'll think I'm dashing too.'

---