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"Krol?" I looked up at him, only slightly hoping.
He refused to look at me, his grey eyes looking elsewhere, "Yes?"
I bit my lip and closed my eyes. I released his hand, moving away from him to the window that overlooked the city. I stared out across the expanse, the orb of the sun just falling into the horizon. I coughed to mask the fact that I wanted to sob.
"It's close to sunset. If we're going to do something, then we'd best do it," I stated.
When next he spoke, it held no warmth and was devoid of all emotion, "Katja Armitanis, in this matter and this one alone--there is no we. I will make it to the city gates before sunset."
I bowed my head, wrapping my arms miserably around myself. Something within me withered, like a delicate flower in the first snows of winter. A chill ran through my soul, hinting at the void that threatened to tear apart my heart, "Please, trust me," I heard him say.
"Then you'd better get going," I mumbled, barely able to get the words past the lump of sorrow and hurt in my throat. Unbidden, the tears began to flow, a single drop down each cheek, I turned myself so that he would not see. However, I felt his hands on my shoulders; warm and comforting. I could not take any comfort from this, knowing that he would leave without a backward glance. Hastily, I brushed the tears from my cheeks, even as I could feel the warmth of his presence behind me.
"You are hiding something from me. You have been for quite some time," he said.
"The sun is setting," I urged.
"Then let it," he replied, "but you are still keeping something from me."
I shook my head, not trusting my voice.
"You know that will not stop my questions. What is wrong?"
I stared hard at the floor; the cobblestones, the crevices, the dark grey granite, "Nothing."
"Of all this world," he murmured, his voice filled with a certain sorrow of his own, "You are the last one I would expect to lie to me outright."
I raised my head, looking back out the window to the orange and red-violet horizon, swallowing hard past the fear that threatened to choke me, "It doesn't matter," I managed.
"Let me be the judge of that," he insisted, "What doesn't matter?"
"The important thing is getting you out of here," I interjected. I shook my head again, softly speaking, "I am a Tyberan. You are an elf. It does not matter because it cannot exist."
"What cannot exist?" he still pressed on, "It cannot? Or will not?"
I looked at him, knowing that my pain was still very apparent by the tears in my eyes I had yet to shed, "Krolaun," I said, "can the sun exist without the moon?"
He thwarted that idea with a simple, "Yes."
It was so very hard to breathe. I couldn't seem to draw a breath without sending myself into agonizing fits of fighting the need to weep. I returned my gaze to the city, and saw that the sun had already set.
"There isn't time for this," I said, matter-of-factly.
"You are right," he agreed, "But it still remains. What is wrong? I am not leaving until this situation is cleared. Something is bothering you."
I slid my gaze along the floor, "If I tell you..." I dragged it along and looked up at him again, "The danger that we are in will only magnify, and I will not do that to you."
"Fine," he said shortly, turning to the door, "if that is what you wish. Time is now very short."
As he reached for the door, it was flung open, Olan's magical wards all but broken. A Priest of Sekhmet, flanked by several Royal Guards stood in the threshold, "Too short, I'm afraid."
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© 1999 E. Angeli Mansfield