Title: Dutiful
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: PG
Length: 750 words
Content notes: Non-explicit fight in which unnamed enemies die?
Author notes: Medieval!au - kinda middle of the timeline, right by Difficult. Hikaru and Fuu and Umi (and Clef). (I'm horribly jetlagged this may not make as much sense as it should)
Summary: “I cannot leave you! After all we have been through-“

oOo

“Go!” Hikaru called over her shoulder, even as her horse reared half upright and struck out at the man trying to get his halberd where it could take out mount, rider, or both. Umi hesitated, Quicksilver turning in an impatient circle under her, ready to leap back to the fighting or away – his ears flicked between the sound of metal on metal and those of Griffin’s hooves, beating at a reckless speed on the muddy ground between the trees.

Fuu didn’t look away from her opponents – all three of them – but her voice was as strong and steady as Hikaru’s. “We will hold them back! The Earl must get to the border, and you are the fastest rider – keep him safe, and come back safely!”

“But!” Umi’s gauntleted hand was tight on the hilt of her sword, stained already – this had been an unexpected ambush, and she had been the one to shout at Clef until he wheeled and left them. She suspected it only worked because he knew that he was the real target, and was hoping the attackers would back off once he was gone – or follow after him.

She had not expected her friends to do the same to her.

“You will travel swifter with just two people, be easier to hide!” Fuu shouted, as Hikaru slammed across the small clearing to cut down another of the enemy before he could raise sword against Fuu. “Go! We will meet again, at the Queen’s camp!”

“I cannot leave you! After all we have been through-“

Hikaru turned back, her sword held high; a salute, grimy with blood. “We swore to the Queen we would see this done!”

They had – they were sworn knights of Cephiro now, and Umi’s duty bound her to doing what she could to further Cephiro’s cause. But though her mind knew her friends spoke the truth, her heart was torn: she would not see any harm come to Clef, could she do aught to stop it. Taking him to learn the truth of the rumours his allies had sent word of could save Cephiro from being engulfed entirely by this war. But she had not been separated from Hikaru and Fuu since they were first together on the ship which had brought them here, and they were more precious to her than anything else in any part of the wide wide world.

“Go! Before someone else catches him first!” Fuu commanded, and Umi found herself making a sound somewhere between a laugh and a cry as she wheeled Quicksilver again, heading him deeper into the woods, after Griffin.

oOo

Umi jolted awake, heart pounding and her hand reaching for a sword which wasn’t there, fingers scrabbling on bare flagstones before she woke enough to realise she had been dreaming, there was no danger at hand.

They had separated from Hikaru and Fuu only a few days hence; the memory was still sharp enough to sting, and she still had a multitude of bruises from the hasty flight through the woods before she had caught up to Clef, and they had made it far enough to go at a safer pace, with others gained since then now layered over the top. None of them agreed with a night sleeping on the cold floor, even with a mattress between herself and the chill of the stone. At home, the floors were all wooden, and could not radiate an ache deep into each of her limbs; one which ensured she would not be going back to sleep.

She struggled upright, and then to her feet. There was some sunlight coming through the high window, but it was thin and pale – still morning, she thought. And she had not slept deeply. Her head was gritty with the ends of her dreams, and the longing for a warm corner to curl up in for several days. But that was not going to happen.

Clef was still asleep in the next room, curled small on the narrow bed. Umi left him there and slipped out into the corridor, leaving behind her sword and mail. Her stained gown was less conspicuous, though she hated appearing in something as rumpled and worn. She would find breakfast, and make sure the horses were fed, and then perhaps Clef would be awake and they could plan the next stage of their journey.

Stepping out into the courtyard, she let the early sunlight do its best to chase away the dregs of memory. She had no time to worry about Hikaru and Fuu right now. She would have to trust in them, and do her best with the task they had given her.

oOo