Just This Once

[Kira Adia]

The crowd was thick. Kira had not seen such a gathering in so long. It was no more crowded than any other market town, but this was exactly the type of place Kira had been avoiding for the past three years. She felt suffocated. It was all she could do to steady her breath.
She was reminded of the balls and formal gatherings of home. The lords and ladies vying for the attention of one another. The eyes of the king upon her.
She gripped the arm she was holding tightly. The man next to her turned his head to face her, violet eyes almost glowing beneath the hood now pulled over his ageless features. “We’ll be across soon. The rest of the trip will be much easier after that. You’ll be safe in the city.”
She nodded. James had brought her this far. The man who shared a soul with her had kept her safe all this time. She still couldn’t use a sword well enough to do more than clumsily parry and thrust, but her bow had served them both well, both in hunting their meals and dispatching her relentless hunters.
Their destination was in sight. The only gate connecting their slice of the multiverse to the rest of the Nexus. This was the site the entire city was built around, the bustling market the centerpiece of the settlement. There was another city much like it in the world across that barrier. She was almost free.
A sound reached her ear. She and James both tensed immediately. A scuffle and sound of surprise to the left. The creaking of wood and sinew somewhere above. James turned to face the closest oncoming threat, black steel drawn and poised to strike.
Old habits kicked in as she struggled to process what was around her. Her bow was in her hand and she was nocking an arrow when she realized the crowd had begun to back away, some people screaming. Thee men before her were not backing up.
She nearly began to draw her bow before she heard a snap. Immediately she summoned the shield from the rune in her right bracer, raising it just in time to deflect an arrow. She knew she should drop the bow and draw the sword. She could keep cover for another minute before her shield depleted. She was equally clumsy with her left hand as her right. Her left hand gripped tighter, refusing to release her bow.
She was saved from the choice. James leapt into view, black meeting crimson, before placing himself between the remaining two assassins and herself. She waited for the impact of the shot she knew was coming. Shield evaporated and an arrow snapped off at the offending archer. A second had taken a nearby perch and he, too, was dropped before he could make a shot.
She turned to move and shot another bowman in a nearby alley. Three arrows shifted from her to her left hand, secure against the shaft of the bow. She let loose at each threat she spied, falling into a rhythm of death. James flew back and forth like a specter of rage and violence. He stretched out a hand and an advancing swordsman burst into blue flames, another swallowed by the earth below her, many cut down by the black steel.
How many can there be? Shoot, shoot, draw more arrows and advance, another killed, another appeared in an endless wave, the gate growing ever closer.
We’ll make it. This time sure for sure, we’ll make it through.
Another archer. Another arrow. But this one wasn’t aiming for her. The string let loose just before she found her mark. The distance the arrow flew seemed to stretch into infinity. She screamed for her legs to move, her hands to catch the deadly barb from the air.
Even an instant cannot last an eternity. The arrow stuck James in the side. A moment of pain left an opening for the swordsman before him to attempt a death blow. Black steel snapped to the side and parried the fatal strike into a glancing cut. A riposte returned the death to it’s wielder.
She froze. Movement at the edge of her vision led her to snap a shot at an advancing woman. James was looking straight at her. “The gate! Run now! Don’t stop!”
Don’t do it. Stay with him. We can do it. She screamed at the legs that wouldn’t stop running. Rage for the arrows tight in her left hand, ready to kill those who harmed him.
This was how it always happened. She saw herself run through the gate, the feeling of twisting and shifting to fit a new vessel that accompanied the jump. It was night on this side. People had already backed away from the violence she had just fled. Once across, she turned back to look. James was standing there, beyond the rippling surface, violet eyes bright with the power we was wielding. His hand stretched out like a claw, gripping the very fabric of reality itself. Men with hate and death in their hands advancing behind him.
She ran to the gate. This wasn’t what she did the first time. But maybe this time, just this once, she could reach him, to avoid the fate she knew was coming.
His face was the same every time. Eyes like stars, face softened into a sorrowful smile, an expression of both grief and relief. His fist clenched, and the gate flashed. The force of reality rushing to fill the new void threw her back. The earth was shaking and pounding and pounding...
———
Pounding at the door. A voice from beyond. “Kira? Kira, are you alright?” She shot up in the bed. James? No, it was the voice of Edward, her guardian while her Mistress was away. She reminded herself where she was, and all that had happened in the last five weeks.
Another round of pounding. “Yes. I’m okay, Edward. You can enter.” She swung her feet around off the bed. The soft carpet against bare skin helped ground her. She felt cold and her blue tunic stuck to her skin.
Edward entered with the key she’d given him. He was staying across the hall from her, a request from Sylista while she was away. He looked relieved to see her unharmed, but concern swill showed in his brow. “I heard shouting. I came to make sure you were unhurt.”
She nodded. “Thank you, my lord.” She winced at the habitual address and he frowned at the title. “Thank you, Edward. It was nothing. I just need a moment.”
He nodded her way and went to leave. A sudden thought. “Edward, one thing, please.” He stopped at the door and looked back to her. “I... know you will inform my Mistress of all that happens in her absence. But please, save this for her return. I... I couldn’t burden her day of happiness with this.”
He regarded her silently for a short moment, then have a silent nod and retreated his own room, the sound of the lock latching in place just before his footsteps crossed the hall.
She took a deep breath to steady herself. There was no doubt Syl would hear about what had happened. Especially since this would not be the last time Edward would come to check on the woman suffering in her sleep. She resolved herself to be ready to speak to Syl when asked. There was no more need to hide this from her.
The phone at her bedside read 3:47 AM. With her late return from the party the night before, she had barely been asleep for two hours. Looks like that’s all I’m getting tonight. She stood and crossed the room to her bathroom. She ran the tap and splashed cold water on her face. When she looked in the mirror, she would see the huntress, the companion, the woman. She would not see the tears that had been in her eyes.