This Is My Town

Chapter Nine ~ Rye

There was a loud knocking on the door that made Rye jump and drop his sword, hearing it clatter to the ground loudly. But the knocking became more frequent, and more desperate.

So, rather cautiously, Rye opened the door to see a young woman with long, straight brown hair and dull, paling red eyes looking up at him. Her skin was deathly pale and she looked weak. She was leaning against the frame of the doorway as if it were the only thing keeping her awake. Almost instantly, Rye widened the door completely and guided the girl in before grabbing the chair from his porch to bring in as well, closing the door behind him. He set the chair down and then sat the girl down on the chair before he knelt down in front of her, his eyes wide and full of worry.

"Hello?" he called. "Can you hear me?"

"I sure as hell hope so," the girl muttered, then winced. "I am sorry to be such a... an inconvenience, but I am afraid it is urgent. No one else will let me in."

She gestured down to her thigh and Rye saw that through the leather of her pants, there was a pool of blood on top of her leg. His eyes widened even more and he retreated to the back room to get supplies to help this girl.

"What on earth happened?" he asked in that deep, foreign tone of his, and she blinked her eyes heavily, waving a hand slick with wet and dry blood.

"Long story," she managed. "I was accused of something and it backfired. Do not worry, I gave them back what they gave me." She added this last part with a wicked grin, and Rye couldn't help but smile at her. She was hurt - badly, at that - and she still had the nerve to joke about it.

"You can handle a weapon, then?" Rye asked as he began to cut the leather around the wound off of her leg to discard it. The girl laughed like he had made a funny joke.

"Since a week ago," she admitted. "I have been travelling ever since to get here."

"What the hell could be here for you?" Rye demanded, stopping for a moment to look at the girl. She shrugged.

"Someone as kind as you are," she admitted. "I needed help; the infirmary that I was put in did a wonderful job for my friend, but not for me. And she was the one with the broken leg."

"How did you both get injured?" Rye asked, making conversation as he cut the last bit of leather off and stood to get water from the basin beside the window.

"She was the one that accused me," the girl admitted. "She got my leg with her sword so I broke hers."

"A hammer?" Rye asked, his back to the girl. She laughed.

"No, a stick," she answered, and Rye turned his head to look at her.

"You are kidding," he decided, but she shook her head, laughing.

"No, she gave me a stick and I broke her leg with it," she said truthfully. "Then I told her what had really happened and we became friends!"

Rye shook his head, a smile on his lips as he brought the water back over to the girl.

"That has got to be the best story I have heard in a long time," he said, and the girl smiled again.

"Thank you for doing this," she said finally, and Rye looked up at her, returning the smile.

"I would do anything for someone who can break a leg with a stick," he admitted, and the girl burst out laughing again, melting a grin on Rye's own face. He had not laughed like this since he was mortal, and he could not even remember what that was like.

When Rye had finished washing out and bandaging this girl's leg, he sat back and studied her for a few moments. Then, he spoke.

"What is your name?" he asked eventually.

"Kiara," she replied hesitantly. She peered at him as though she expected him to attack her or something. He simply frowned.

"What an exquisite name," he murmured, and Kiara returned his frown with one of her own. She left the matter alone, however.

"What is your name?" she asked him, and he shrugged.

"Rye," he replied. "Rye Turner. And no, I do not live here willingly."

Kiara laughed. "Yeah, well, neither did I come here willingly," she muttered, and Rye crossed his arms over his chest.

"Where have you come from?" he asked, and she peered up at him.

"Montilo," she said after a long hesitation. Rye stared at her.

"You travelled all the way here from Montilo?" he demanded, and she grimaced.

"I had no choice," she tried. "I am being tracked down, which is why I cannot stay much longer here. I am putting you in danger as it is."

Rye, suddenly interested, simply shrugged.

"I do not mind," he told Kiara. "I have nothing here to come back to anyway, if something were to happen."

Kiara sighed. "You may not want to hear it," she tried, but Rye scoffed.

"Come on!" he urged. "This is the most interesting thing that has happened in my life! Please, enlighten me."

Kiara shuffled her feet around, then began speaking.

"I was accused of associating with Pandora," she admitted. "There have been people watching me my entire life that I had no idea about, and they made their move a week ago. That was how I got this cut and when I broke Kallee's leg. She told me that she was part of a rebellion against Pandora, but we both lived, and Pandora has been using me since I died. Occasionally, she comes into my head and sees what I see, and hears what I hear. Kallee's life was in danger, so I took her to the infirmary and told her everything. Turns out that Pandora has a plot to kill the King. She was going to use me, although I do not know why she does not just go and do it herself. I sent Kallee to Crinya to warn the King, and I came here because I knew that she would not follow me to the other side of Frate if her business is elsewhere. I have not heard from her in my head in over a week; I think she has chosen someone else to do her dirty work for her. But just in case, I will keep to the road until I am certain that the King is safe and well. I cannot go there to tell him in person, though; I can only hope that Kallee told him exactly what I told her to deliver to him."

Rye processed this information for a while, then raised his eyebrows.

"Well, that sure is something," he answered. "I mean, how on earth did she get in your head? And why does she want the King dead? That is not going to get her anywhere, unless she wants to-"

"-take his position, yes," Kiara finished for him. "She wants more than physical power, now. She wants the political side of it."

"Okay, so if she is out of your head now, she will not be getting you involved. This is good, no?"

"Yes," Kiara admitted, "but there are still lives in danger that I can help prevent. So I am leaving Longreach as soon as I wake in the morning."

Rye furrowed his eyebrows. "If there is still someone out there, coming for you," he began, "do you not think it best that you stay up and avoid the trouble if it comes?"

At these words, Kiara looked away, and Rye knew he had struck a nerve.

"I do not think that is an option," she said after a few moments of quite an eerie silence, She then lifted her head and asked, "What is the time?"

Rye looked out the window and shrugged.

"Eight," he replied, then glanced back at Kiara, whose head was lolled forward and eyes were shut tight.

Rye panicked.