Fiction: Unknown World: Untitled Fantasy

[k_a_webb]

They walked together, holding hands as they usually did. Lena didn't have a destination in mind. It was just nice to have time to spend with Jake. Often they were both too busy to spend any time together and that was why they hadn't really made anything official. For her it was easier because it meant she didn't feel the need to tell him. If they were together then it would be different, she would have to tell him. Keeping him in the dark was dangerous enough as it was but there was no reason anyone should know who he was, yet.

 

When they got to the park she couldn't help smiling. It was the place they had decided to start seeing each other casually so it held a special place in her heart. He smiled back at her, reminding her of why she had made that decision against her better judgement. She'd been told not to get too close to anyone but it wasn't that simple. Keeping her distance from someone like him was almost impossible and eventually she hadn't wanted to. At the same time she was terrified that something would happen to him when she wasn't around because she had let herself get close to him.

Forcing all of her worries to the back of her mind she let him lead her over to the swings. He sat down first, without letting go of her hand. There was a moment just after when she was sure she felt something but it faded too quickly for her to get a real connection to it. She sat on the swing next to his and tried not to worry. It was her night off so there would be someone else out there, somewhere, who would have also felt whatever it was if there really was something there.

“I've been wanting to talk to you for a while,” he said, sounding unsure and that worried her. “I know that you're busy but I was really hoping that we could start seeing more of each other.”

She looked down at the ground. “My job is really...”

The sound of a hammer hitting the ground silenced her. Rolling her eyes she looked around the park. Dealing with an ogre on her night off was not her idea of a good time, especially as she didn't want him to know what it was she was doing. When she found it in the corner of the park, staring straight at them, she knew she didn't have a choice. It took one step towards them.

“You need to go.”

“What is that?”

“It's an ogre,” she replied, without thinking. Her mentor was going to kill her if he ever found out that she'd told a human anything. “They're big and stupid but very good at squashing things with hammers.”

“I'm not leaving you here.”

“It will be much easier for me to kill it if you're not here for me to worry about.”

He stood up and looked at her for longer than she wanted him to. The first time she'd seen an ogre she'd run away and let her mentor deal with it, rather than get squished. It seemed he was determined to do the opposite.

“Please.”

“Only if you promise to explain everything to me.”

She turned to look at where the ogre was. It hadn't moved but apparently there had been two as the second one was too close for her comfort. Grabbing her knife out of her bag she turned to face it, wondering when the ogres had decided it would be a good idea to work together because it had never happened before.

“It's not that simple. I have to get permission and I doubt that's...”

A second hammer hit the ground. The third ogre was behind them and she knew then it was too late for him to run. She also knew it would be impossible for her to survive a fight with three ogres. Making a quick decision she did the only thing she could do, even though she knew that no one would be happy with her.

“Keep a tight hold on my hand.”

He squeezed her hand. Turning away from him she focused on the gap between the two swings. Calling the door when she was with a human was bad enough but having to take him through the door would get her into a lot of trouble. Unfortunately she had no other choice. All she could do was hope that whoever was on duty would understand why she'd had to. She didn't look behind her becausee she didn't want to know where that ogre was. It was bad enough that she knew where the other two were as they were both closer than she would like.

When the door appeared she didn't wait for it to open as she would do normally. With her free hand she opened it and pulled him forwards with the other. Letting go of his hand, she pushed him through first so he would be safe. The hammer of an ogre only just missed hitting her as she stepped through behind him, slamming the door behind her as she did so.

“What are you doing?” a male voice she knew asked angrily. “Humans aren't allowed through the door.”

“There were three ogres out there. I couldn't leave him there to get squashed.” Lena turned to look at Dylan. “Squashed humans will draw attention to the ogres which will, in turn, draw attention to us.”

“Three?”

She nodded. “I've never seen three ogres in the same place before.”

“They're in the middle of some territory wars so it's, thankfully, not because they've started working together.”

“That's good, I guess. It doesn't make my job any easier but at least it's unlikely to last for long.”

“I can't just let him go through though. I accept that you didn't have much choice but there are rules.”

“Would it make you feel better if I promised to wipe his memory?”

Dylan looked at her. “Yes it would, if I knew you'd keep that promise.”

There were times when she wished he didn't know her as well as he did. She stared back at him, trying not to see the hurt in his eyes. It had never been her intention to hurt him any more than it had been her intention to start caring for a human. Sighing she turned to look at Jake. He had stood up and was looking around him curiously.

“Mal won't let me break my promise.”

“You plan on taking him to Mal?”

“I don't have much choice. I can't take him back to mine so that leaves Mal's.” She sighed. “He's going to be furious with me.”

“He'll understand.”

Shrugging she turned back to him. “He won't understand everything I have to tell him.”

“Don't tell him then.”

“I have to Dylan. Maybe I can get a transfer or something.”

“That won't stop you caring for him.”

“No, it won't, but I'll have to do something to prove to Mal that I'm capable of doing my job.”

“Having feelings for a human won't stop you from doing the job you need to do.”

“If he hadn't been with me I would have killed that first ogre.”

“That might have got you killed too Lena and that would have been a worse outcome.”

“I never wanted to have to wipe his memory.”

“No one ever wants to have to wipe someone's memory but it's just one night. It won't do a lot of damage.”

“Have you ever had to do it?”

He nodded. “Most people have. If you want Mal to respect you after tonight then wipe his memory yourself and don't let whatever feelings you have for him get in the way.”

“I wish I'd never let myself get involved.”

Gently he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Learn from what's happened but never regret what you did. Caring for someone is never a bad thing.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“So you don't ever wish you didn't care for me?”

“Some days it's harder than others but I would never wish to not care for you. I know it's unlikely that you'll ever feel the same way about me and I understand that.”

“I'm sorry.”

“There's nothing for you to apologise for.” He squeezed her before moving his arm. “Now you'd better get going. I've been talking to you much longer than I should.”

She smiled at him. “I should know better than to keep you from your job.”

“It's fine. Just go and see Mal. Get your human sorted out.”

“He's not my human.”

“Right now he is. Try to make sure he doesn't see too much.”

“Will I see you tomorrow?”

“I'm working tomorrow but I don't know what door I'm working so I won't promise anything. If I don't see you then I'll send you a message and we can get together when we've next got a shared night off.”

“I'm glad you're my friend.”

Lena held her hand out to Jake and he took it. She knew he hadn't been able to hear what either she or Dylan had said because he wasn't used to the bubble that was the doorway. It had taken her months to get used to being in the doorway so she could talk to whoever it was that was working the door. Until that day she'd had to lip read, which wasn't an easy thing to do either. Jake squeezed her hand as they continued through the door.

 

© K A Jones 2011

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.