#shadowrose

Their party had been travelling back from the neighbouring lord's manor when they were ambushed in the woods. Some of their number had been slain, but they had survived and continued with haste to the border. To their horror, however, a further night raid had proven their assailants to be unafraid of pursuing them into home territory. They had taken refuge in the watchtower nearby - occupied only by a single man, since the reigning peace had rendered it useless as a military outpost for decades. By the following morning they were surrounded by a much larger force. For a while nothing had happened. Then, in the pitch of night, the invaders launched their assault. The cacophony had woken Penelope from her uneasy slumber. She had not been able to sleep since. Some time just before dawn, the enemy had breached the walls.

None of them had been able to ascertain any specific reason why Lord Gaat had decided to launch such an aggressive and hostile attack - on the Tracy's own land, no less. But motive meant nothing when they were all staring death in the face.

Behind her, her bodyguard was wearing a hole into the floor. She paced back and forth, her footfalls silent despite the chainmaille she wore and the blade on her belt. Kayo had been tasked by her adoptive brothers to protect Penelope whilst they repelled the enemy. Unhappy but understanding, she had acquiesced. She had spent the whole night even more restless than Penelope herself.

Penelope tore herself away from the sight below, turning to face her bodyguard. Kayo stopped pacing at her movement, pulled out of whatever foul thoughts were clouding her mind and meeting Penelope's eyes.

"How many are there?" she enquired. Her tone was anxious, tentative - as if she already knew and feared the answer.

Penelope paused, worrying her lip. "Too many."

"There is no chance at all?"

"I- " Penelope's hands twisted the fabric of her skirts. "I do not know. We are massively outnumbered, that is certain."

Kayo stepped over to the window, surveying the courtyard. One hand rested on the window ledge; the other caressed her sword. After a second, she turned back. There was something glimmering in her eyes which Penelope did not like.

"Kayo…"

"I have to help."

Penelope exhaled slowly. "You were tasked with protecting me. Virgil instructed you not to leave my side. You cannot." The unspoken message hung between them: you cannot leave me.

Kayo's gaze turned pleading. "That was before they breached our walls. They need every swordsman they can spare. Penelope…my love…I cannot stay here whilst my brothers are slaughtered below."

Her words stung deep. Penelope swallowed against the growing lump in her throat; when she spoke, her treacherous voice cracked, words splintering on her tongue. "You care more for them than for me?"

Kayo's eyes widened in horror. She rushed forward, taking one of Penelope's hands in both of her own and clasping it tight. "I do this for you! If we fail here, they will kill those able to fight and then- then, I do not know what they will do to the captured." She reached up with one hand, cupped Penelope's face; Penelope closed her eyes against tears, savouring the feel of her bodyguard's calloused touch. "I could not bear it if they took you. I will not let them."

"I would take my own life before that happens," Penelope swore fiercely.

"I know." Kayo's voice was more full of emotion than it had ever been before. "But I would do anything to prevent you from having to do such a thing. Which is why…you must let me go."

Penelope opened her eyes again. The tears which she had been keeping at bay finally fell, but she took no heed. She studied every inch of her lover's face, took in every tiny detail which she had long ago committed to memory. Kayo's eyes were greener than ever, shining in the way which she knew meant she was close to tears herself. Often Penelope would lose herself in them, their mossy depths so full of all the emotions the warrior in her so rarely expressed. She didn't know how she could ever live without seeing them again.

And yet she knew that there was only one choice to make.

"Very well." Two words had never hurt her more. They left her lips as scarcely more than a whisper. "Go. Defend us."

The barest smile graced Kayo's lips. "Thank you."

Sir Kyrano was almost at the door when Penelope called out her name again - one last desperate attempt to stall her, to stretch out the final moments they had together. Her feet acted of their own accord, following her lover to the door as if some arcane force were drawing them together. "Promise me one thing?"

"Anything."

It was Penelope's turn to grasp Kayo's hand. Her bodyguard looked taken aback by the fierceness of her gaze. "Come back to me alive."

It was a futile thing to ask, and they both knew it. Nothing so great as life could ever be guaranteed. They both knew that intimately - had both lost so much so young. And yet Penelope asked anyway.

Kayo nodded. "I promise."