Chapter 16 - Selest
“Emily,” Kyle said, kneeling down by the pool.
“Hiya, Kyle, coming for a swim?” Emily asked and caught Allen as he jumped off the side of the pool.
“Ky sim” Allen said, when he saw the heku.
Kyle grinned, “I can’t come swim right now… Emily, the Elders are here and they want to talk to you, immediately.”
Emily frowned, “Why?”
“Not my place to ask, come on. I’ll take Allen,” Kyle said, standing up.
Emily hesitantly crawled out of the pool and handed Allen over, “Tell them I’ll be right there after I change.”
“Sorry, no time,” he explained, and handed her a towel.
She gasped, “I can’t change?”
Kyle started ushering her out of the room, “No, we need to hurry.”
Emily wrapped the towel around her as best she could and scowled all the way to the conference room. Kyle opened the door and Emily stepped in, then spun and tried to get out the door, but he blocked her. There were three heku at the table wearing dark green robes with their hoods pulled up over their heads so she couldn’t see their faces.
“Emily, sit, please,” one of the Elders said. She blushed profusely. They were in traditional Equites robes, and she was in a bikini wrapped in a towel.
“I should ash you,” Emily whispered to Kyle, but blushed worse when he laughed.
“Sit,” he said, shutting the door. Emily turned and sat down at the head of the table, a seat or two away from the others.
“Can we get you anything, Emily?” Maleth asked.
“No, thank you,” she said, and shifted uncomfortably in the seat.
“Ok, let’s get on with it then,” Chevalier said. Emily’s eyes widened. She didn’t know Chevalier was even here. She realized that that meant only two were Elders. She changed seats to sit beside him.
Maleth sighed, “It’s time, Chevalier.”
Chevalier’s hands tightened into fists, “Already?”
Emily’s body tensed. She could tell by the tone in his voice that something was wrong.
“It’s getting worse. We can’t have this,” Leonid said.
“Now though? It seems like an unstable time for such a change,” Chevalier said dryly.
“It has to be now,” Leonid said.
“Why are you telling me?” Chevalier asked.
“It’s going to be you,” Maleth said.
Emily felt Chevalier’s hands ball into tight fists and she started to panic as he growled deeply.
She cleared her throat and felt all three look at her, “What’s going to be him?”
Chevalier sighed, “They want me to take Selest’s place as an Elder.”
She frowned, “No.”
“Excuse me?” Maleth asked, shocked.
“I don’t want him to be an Elder.” Her voice was higher than usual as the panic grew.
“Emily, not now,” Chevalier hissed at her, and her eyes grew wide.
“When?” He turned and asked the others.
“Soon, things have gotten bad,” Maleth told them.
Chevalier turned to Emily, and then back to the Elders, “Why did you have Emily come?”
Leonid sighed, “We hope to avoid the nasty battle with her supporters… Emily gives us the advantage of a clean kill.”
She gasped and pushed her chair back to stand, but Chevalier’s hand shot out and held her in her chair.
“No, I can do it,” Chevalier said angrily.
“You know how many supporters Selest has. It’s more than just doing away with her. We would need to get through her protectors. If Emily could simply… turn her to ash… it would avoid any unexpected complications,” Leonid explained.
“No,” Emily whispered.
“Emily, it’s for the good of the faction,” Maleth said, and pulled his hood back so she could see his face.
She shook her head.
Leonid brought his hood down, followed by Chevalier. She looked into his eyes and could tell he wasn’t happy.
“She can’t kill an Elder. You know what the implications would be,” Chevalier said.
“No one would know what happened, that’s the beauty of it,” Maleth said excitedly. “Never have we been able to replace a member of the Council without fighting and innocent heku dying.”
“I said I can do it… alone,” Chevalier growled at them.
“That would be too messy… then we would have the years and years until the faction members all trusted you again,” Leonid reminded him.
Emily’s mind swam, she thought of Larsen and how he was ousted for being thought of as weak. Everything involved in being an Elder scared her. The Elders were above reproach and they were both hated and feared by anyone outside of the Council. She didn’t want to move off of the island. She didn’t want her husband to have endless meetings and missions.
Maleth reached out and touched her arm lightly, “We can’t order you, Emily, you aren’t a heku. So we have no right to force you to do this.”
She pulled away from his touch and looked at Chevalier, “Don’t do it.”
“I have to. They can’t order you, but once the decision is made to replace an Elder, it’s permanent,” he said to her.
“No,” she said, and turned to the Elders. “Pick someone else.”
“The decision is made,” Leonid said to her. His eyes were warm and understanding.
“I saw what happened to Larsen,” she whispered, her eyes quickly darting across the table.
Maleth stiffened, “Larsen?”
“Yes, the former Elder. He’s been living in a crypt under the island for 600 years,” she said, not looking up from the wood pattern on the desk.
“How do you know this?” Leonid asked quietly.
Emily looked at Chevalier and frowned.
Chevalier turned to them, “Larsen broke out of the crypt and took Emily for a few days. I told this all to Selest.”
“She failed to pass that information on to us,” Leonid hissed.
“Has he…” Maleth began, but Chevalier nodded.
“I took care of him.”
“My point is that he was banished for being weak and turned into this old… shrivel… slumped over thing that spent his days plotting revenge. He was vile, he smelled, he hated…” Emily shivered.
“That won’t happen to Chevalier, Emily. He’s stronger than Selest and Larsen combined. It’s unfortunate you had to see that, and we apologize for any harm he might have done,” Leonid said.
“Pick someone else,” she said angrily.
“We can’t,” Maleth said. “Chevalier is the strongest of the Council, probably even more so than Leonid or I. We need that on the Council.”
“What happens to Emily when I’m made an Elder?” Chevalier asked softly.
“What do you mean what happens to me?” she asked, her eyes scanning them.
“An Elder can’t have a mortal wife, it’s a sign of weakness. It’s never been done,” Maleth said, sighing.
Emily was so angry she felt tears in her eyes, “So that’s it then? I kill off an Elder, Chevalier takes her place, and then what… I go back to Montana? Take Allen and start over without him? Sounds easy to you I would imagine.”
“Except, we can’t let a Winchester out of our protection,” Leonid said, rather coldly.
Emily stood up and glared at them, “How about I ash you both right now and we start a new Council.”
Maleth and Leonid jerked and pushed their chairs back away from her, horrified.
“Emily, stop,” Chevalier said kindly and touched her arm.
Emily continued to glare at the two Elders.
“She’s not going to turn you to ash,” Chevalier told the Elders.
Emily sat down and gave the Elders an icy stare. The Elders calmed some and pushed their chairs back to the table.
“We will have to discuss the bonding later, for now we just need to take care of Selest,” Maleth said as he watched Emily carefully.
“Oh you think? I say we discuss the bond now, or I walk,” Emily yelled at them.
“Child, you can’t just walk… there are a thousand heku on this island that will do our bidding. You know, at least for now, you can’t get away,” Leonid said, amused.
“Is that a challenge?” Emily asked, trying again to stand up again, but Chevalier stopped her.
“I wouldn’t do that, Leonid. She’s escaped from here often enough,” Chevalier said, grinning, and then he nodded when Maleth looked at him questioningly.
“Very well… what are our options?” Maleth asked Leonid.
“Simple,” Leonid said thoughtfully. “We break the bond or…”
Both Emily and Chevalier shouted, “No.”
“Or,” he emphasized. “We go with her being bonded to Kyle.”
“I don’t want to pretend to be with Kyle,” Emily said, crossing her arms.
“Why can’t we just use the Winchester thing… she’s not merely a mortal and everyone in this room knows that,” Chevalier suggested.
“That might work, but of course, then we would have to let everyone know who she is and what she can do. Do you want that?” Leonid asked Emily.
“Perfect, so I keep my husband, but now everyone’s afraid of me,” Emily said icily.
“Do you have any suggestions?” Maleth asked her.
“Yes, I do… find someone else,” she hissed.
“Let’s just calm down,” Chevalier said, taking Emily’s hand. “I’ll take care of Selest alone, and then the heku will just have to live with the fact I’m bonded to Emily and if they have a problem with it, I’ll take care of them, too. A few missing heku and no one will mention it again. If they think I’m weak… then bring them on.”
“You can’t take on Selest and her supporters alone,” Leonid said.
“I can and I will. I’m not going to bring Emily into this,” Chevalier said dryly.
Leonid looked at Maleth, and then back to Chevalier, “Very well.”
“Wait,” Emily said. “I’m not ok with this.”
Chevalier smiled at her, “It’s going to be easy, Em. Don’t worry about it.”
She frowned, “No, find someone else or I’ll disappear.”
Leonid gasped, his eyes wide, “What?”
“Yeah… if I’m that valuable, then you’ll meet my demands or I’ll disappear. Ask Chev, I can do it.” She looked at them boldly.
“Em,” Chevalier whispered. “They can’t find someone else.”
“We can have you restrained,” Maleth said bluntly
Emily stood up and glared at him, “I dare you.”
“Sit, Em,” Chevalier said to her, and then turned to Maleth. “If you threaten my wife again, you’ll be an Elder short.”
“Find someone else.” Emily gritted her teeth and accentuated each word.
“They can’t, Emily, it’s done,” Chevalier said to her calmly.
“Fine… I’m leaving then.” She tried to storm out of the conference room, but found her way blocked by Kyle, “Move.”
Kyle glanced at Chevalier and held his position.
Emily spun and glared at Chevalier, “I won’t stand for this. I’m not going to sit by and watch our lives upended by this. I don’t want to leave the island, and I don’t want to watch you buried for 600 years. It’ll be easier if I just go, then I don’t have to watch.”
“You don’t have to leave the island. This will still be Chevalier’s coven, and he can come back on weekends,” Maleth said, and recoiled when Emily jumped at him angrily.
“Then what? Then if he needs a booty call he comes back? Is that what I am?” she asked, seething.
“That’s not what I meant,” Maleth said quickly. “I just meant he’s not restricted from coming back when he wants.”
Emily screamed and walked to the door, when Kyle met her, she glared at him, “Get out of my way or I’ll make you.”
Kyle looked at Chevalier, and then stepped back. He looked into the room, and then shut the door.
“That little one has a temper,” Maleth said, shocked.
Chevalier nodded, “Yes… I’m aware of that.”
“That could be a problem while you are an Elder,” Leonid said.
“How so?” Chevalier asked.
“If her temper interferes with the everyday workings of Council City… if she’s seen as a liability,” he answered.
“My coven loves her. I’m amazed at the lengths they will go to protect her. They know of her temper, they know of her abilities, but they are loyal and devoted to her. Sometimes I wonder if she leaves, if they would follow her.” Chevalier smiled.
Maleth nodded, “I can see that. We’ll be watching her though.”
“Unless she disappears as threatened,” Leonid said.
“I’ll handle that. If she insists on going, then I’m not going to stop her… not that I really could. She’s headstrong, and once she makes up her mind, there’s no stopping her,” Chevalier explained.
“We can’t have an unprotected Winchester.”
“I would, of course, keep an eye on her,” he promised.
Maleth sighed, “Get her to move to Council City, into the palace with us. Things will be easier there, and we can help keep an eye on her.”
“It’s not going to be easy to get her to move to the palace. She loves it here, her horses are here, and her cattle.” Chevalier tried to make them understand, “Kyle is here also, and they are close friends. She’s not going to want to leave him.”
“Then bring Kyle with, he can keep an eye on her,” Maleth said.
Chevalier chuckled, “Just don’t tell Emily she has another… what does she call it… babysitter. She’ll disappear before you can count to ten if she thinks she’s being personally guarded.”
Maleth nodded, “Bring Kyle along, if that will help her.”
Chevalier nodded.
“He can help protect her from the heku servants… they aren’t going to tolerate the mortal well.”
“Emily can handle herself, trust me. I’m more worried about them than her,” Chevalier said, chuckling.
“So it’s set then? You are going to take care of Selest yourself,” Leonid confirmed.
“Yes, she’ll be banished within the next two weeks,” he promised.
“We will make preparations for the coronation,” Maleth said, then stood and replaced his hood.
Chevalier nodded and escorted Maleth and Leonid to the helicopter pad.
Once he saw them off, he slowly walked to Emily’s room. His mind whirled as he thought of how he could get her to go along with this. He wasn’t kidding when he said he would let her go, but he doubted he could live without her. She had somehow weaseled her way into his soul, and without her, he would be incomplete. Chevalier looked around the castle on his way to her room, he would miss this place. It would always be here and he would still be in charge, but he would no longer be living here as he had for the past three hundred years.
Chevalier stood at the door to Emily’s room and watched her frantically throwing clothes into a bag. She was crying and mumbling under her breath. Allen was sitting on the bed playing with her cell phone.
He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She turned into him and buried her face in his chest.
“Emily, this is not bad, ok? This is good, it’s a promotion.” He tried to sound excited.
“Don’t do it… let’s run… let’s go to Colorado and stay there,” she begged.
“I can’t let my faction down.”
“Please,” she said softly.
He kissed the top of her head. “Try it out, for me. If you hate it, then I’ll buy you your ranch and the heku will be out of your life forever. That’s a promise.”
“Maybe I don’t want all heku out of my life, Chev. Why are you doing this? Is this a power trip? Is it not enough to run your own coven and be Chief Enforcer?” She was trying to understand.
“It’s not the power. It’s my responsibility to see that the Council, and especially the Elders, are strong and formidable. It’s time for Selest to be replaced, and I’m the only logical replacement.” He ran his fingers through her hair.
“This is my home,” she said softly.
He pulled her tighter to him, “Try it, for me. At least give it a few months.”
“Will we have our own home in the new city?” She tried to find something positive about moving.
“No, we’ll be in the Elder’s palace.”
She winced, and he couldn’t help but grin.
“Will they have a place for Patra?”
He sighed. He knew this was coming, “Em, there’s no barn in the city. Sam can stay with them, and you can come back any time you want. I’ll even buy you your own helicopter.”
“I like Selest,” she said softly.
“I know.”
“I’m not ready to live in a palace.”
Chevalier chuckled, “Dear, that palace isn’t ready for you.”
She looked up at him, “What do you mean?”
“No one in that palace is less than 1700 years old and never has a mortal lived there… especially one with your… hrm… temper and appeal.” He grinned.
Her eyes narrowed, “Appeal?”
He kissed her forehead, “Trust me. They’ve never seen anything like you before.”
“How so?” She pressed.
“Well… Selest is currently the only female heku living in the palace. It is often attacked, and only the most elite guards live there. Maleth and Leonid aren’t bonded, so that leaves just her.” He felt her wince.
“Perfect”
He laughed, “It’ll be ok.”
“When are you going to… you know… Selest?” she asked, pulling away from him.
“Within the next two weeks.”
“So soon?”
He nodded, “The sooner the better.”
“Will Kyle help you?”
“No, I need to do this alone. It’s going to cause quite the commotion, and the least amount of heku involved the better,” he said, and gently ran his thumb under her eye to wipe away a tear.
“They were right then, it would be easier if I just did it,” she said, mainly to herself.
“I am not going to ask you to kill her. I can do it.”
“I know you can, but if I do, it won’t cause World War III.”
He brushed his lips softly across hers, “I have it covered, and you need to trust me.”
“Perfect,” she said again. “You’re taking me to the capital city of a species that more-or-less hates mortals and doesn’t think that we’re fit to share this planet with them except to feed off of.”
“Normally true,” he said, “But you know from your experience here that with you, that is not the same.”
She sighed and rolled her eyes.
“There’s one other thing… about the palace.” He couldn’t help but grin.
She looked up at him, “What?”
“The Elders are… well… like royalty.” He saw her grimace.
“What does that have to do with me?” She was almost afraid to ask.
“Never mind, we’ll discuss it later.”
“No tell me now, I don’t want any surprises.”
“There’s a coronation… and… well... you’ll need to be there too.”
“No crowns.”
He laughed, “No, no crowns.”
Emily pulled away from him, “I don’t like this.”
“I know,” he said, watching her as she quickly changed into jeans and a t-shirt.
“I’m not going to be paraded around in frou-frou dresses and putting on balls and crap,” she said, slipping on her Ropers.
He chuckled, “I’m not asking you to do anything out of character.”
“You already have.”
“Fair enough. I won’t ask you to throw a ball, deal?” he asked, amused.
Emily rummaged through the suitcase she brought when she left Montana and pulled out a pair of spurs, then slipped them onto the back of her boots.
Chevalier raised an eyebrow, “Spurs?”
“Yeah well... I need to get out some frustration,” she said, and grabbed her leather gloves and cowboy hat.
“Who is getting your wrath today then?” He was shocked. He couldn’t imagine her using spurs on one of her beloved horses.
“Damnit is,” she said, kissing him lightly.
“Damnit? Em, you didn’t name that poor colt, Damnit.” He shook his head, and then laughed when she nodded.
“It fit,” she said, grinning slightly.
“You’re going to kill yourself trying to break that monster. He turned into one huge horse,” he said, starting to get worried.
“Oh I can take care of that,” she told him, and headed out of the room.
Chevalier picked up Allen and followed her, “Oddly enough, I’m feeling sorry for the horse.”
“You should, because your Arabian is next.”
“My Arabian is already broken,” he reminded her.
“Yeah, but he needs some manors.” The way she walked, the way she spoke and carried herself was impressive to Chevalier. He’d never seen such a tiny figure command so much respect and authority. He knew she was going to fit in perfectly in the palace, but couldn’t tell her that.
“Try not to kill him, Em,” Chevalier said, taking Allen and heading for the kitchen.
“Damnit,” Allen said, pointing to Emily.
He sighed, “Yes I know.”
Chevalier sat Allen down at the table and watched as he began to eat his peanut butter and jelly sandwich happily. Gordon hated how he wouldn’t eat anything more intricate, but finally caved when Allen would look at him with his beautiful green eyes.
“Is Emily packing?” Kyle asked, joining them at the table.
“Sort of… and I need you to get ready to move also,” he said, not taking his eyes off of his son.
“Yes, Sir, for how long will I be gone?” Kyle asked, knowing better than to question any further.
Chevalier looked at him, “Permanently”
Kyle cringed and nodded. Chevalier couldn’t tell him anything else, and he knew Kyle wasn’t happy about moving away from the island. He also knew Kyle would be ok with it when he found out the reasons.
Kyle stood up, but Chevalier held out a hand, “Stay, please… there’s more.”
He sat back down slowly, and Chevalier continued, “I’m going away for a few weeks.”
Kyle nodded.
“I would never tell Emily this, but there’s a chance… however small… that I won’t be back,” Chevalier whispered. He watched Allen to make sure he hadn’t heard or understood.
Kyle nodded again slowly, “Let me come with you then. It will up your chances of whatever it is you’re doing.”
“I can’t, I have to do this alone,” he said, and caught Allen’s sandwich moments before it hit the floor. He handed it back to him and returned his attention to Kyle.
“I understand,” Kyle said, but he wasn’t happy.
“This is just between us. I need help with Emily,” he said, and when he had Kyle’s full attention again, he continued. “If anything happens to me… if you don’t hear from me by day 15, I want you to take her away. I have a house on one of the islands in Palau. Take her there… no one knows I have it, I’ll get you directions. Once you get there, stay… never come back.”
Kyle dropped his eyes and nodded.
“No one, not even the Elders, can know where she’s gone.”
“I will do as you ask,” Kyle said. Chevalier knew this was an enormous personal risk for Kyle. Whisking away the Winchester would be grounds for banishment, and out on that small remote island, Kyle would be a factionless heku, a great danger.
“Be ready to move in two weeks, but don’t make it too obvious,” Chevalier said after a few minutes of silence.
Kyle nodded.
“Here, take Allen up for his nap, I need to go to the office for a bit,” Chevalier said.
Kyle took Allen and left the dining room. Chevalier thought for a moment, and then went to his office to prepare.
Chevalier was just finishing up his plans for taking out Selest when there was a knock on his door.
“Enter,” he said, quieter than usual.
Kyle entered, “I’m running Em to the mainland, but I can have the helicopter back by morning.”
Chevalier sighed, “What’d she do now?”
Kyle grinned, “She got into a fight with your horse.”
Chevalier raised an eyebrow, “How bad?”
“I think she dislocated her shoulder, Dr. Edwards is waiting for her at the hospital.” Kyle fought not to grin.
“How bad is the horse?” He grinned.
“Oh your horse won, she says it’s because breaking in Damnit... erm… the colt, wore her out. I’m pretty sure you’re going to need a new horse when she gets back, she’s pretty mad.” Kyle started to shut his door.
“I’ll be gone when you get back,” Chevalier said, following him out. “I’ll go say good-bye to Em.”
They walked in silence up to the small infirmary on the 3rd floor. Chevalier was dreading telling Emily good-bye and Kyle was afraid of losing a good friend and Commanding Officer. He also dreaded having to make the decision when it was time to move Emily out of civilization.
“No, Emily,” Sam said. Kyle and Chevalier heard them yelling from down the hall.
“You can’t tell me no. I tell you what to do,” she ordered.
“Fine then… but I have a feeling in a few seconds it won’t matter what you want.” Sam sounded pleased.
Chevalier and Kyle walked around the corner and saw Emily standing close to Sam, glaring up at him.
“What’s wrong?” Chevalier asked, watching them.
“He’s going to hire someone to break that colt.” She glared at Sam.
“Emily…” Chevalier turned to Kyle and Kyle ushered Sam out of the small room.
She looked at him sideways, “What’s wrong?”
“When you get back from the hospital… I’ll be gone. I need to get this all taken care of,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.
“So soon? Don’t go, please. If you wait until I get back I’ll go with you,” she said.
“I’ll be back before you know it. Try not to give Kyle and Sam a hard time and do what the doctor says,” Chevalier told her, and kissed the top of her head.
“Please don’t go,” she begged.
“I have to. Be good.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately.
She pulled away and looked into his eyes, “I changed my mind, let me do it.”
He grinned, “And let you take the credit? I’ll be back soon, I promise.”
She frowned, “You don’t know that. I can see it in your eyes.”
Chevalier kissed her forehead and left for his mission.
***
Chevalier watched from outside of the city. He could see the regular happenings of Selest’s coven. Heku everywhere were doing their everyday things, shopping, training, spending time with their family. He truly hoped he wouldn’t have to kill too many of the innocents. He’d been to the castle in the center of the city many times, but showing up uninvited would surely cause panic.
This wasn’t the first time for him to banish a member of the Council. It was his job to banish them any time a council member was slated to be replaced, but never before had he been given the task to take out an Elder, let alone to replace her. Things were different now, now he had Emily and Allen, a reason to return.
Chevalier’s plans were well laid out and precise. He was going to take his time, slowly moving through the city and taking as few innocent lives as he could. He hoped that the six days of recognizance would pay off, and he wouldn’t run into any surprises. Tonight was the night he chose for the attack. A storm was coming, the high wind would help mask his scent and hopefully buy him a few extra seconds of lead time.
Chevalier put on his black jacket and quickly painted his face with black paint. Stealth would be the trick here, especially when he entered the castle. He knew that Selest was never heavily guarded. She was safer at the Council City Palace, but Selest had chosen to spend some time with her coven for the next few weeks. It would be easier here to find her unguarded, but also would be harder to keep from killing the innocents.
Crouching low, Chevalier moved from tree, to rock, to tree, keeping out of sight yet moving slowly closer to the city. This city had no high cement walls, careless on her part as far as Chevalier was concerned. His first staging point was just beyond the first house, an alcove between several small commercial buildings, all but abandoned for the night. He made it there slowly, taking extra time to carefully watch his step and avoid contact with the heku at all costs.
From the first alcove, there was a straight shot to his next well-planned out location, an abandoned store. There, he could set up a secondary staging area. Making it to the store without any difficulty, he sat down his backpack and waited. He had two hours to go before the row of houses to his south would turn out their lights and pretend to sleep for the night to keep up the mortal pretenses. Chevalier preferred his island, mortals didn’t make it past the pier. There was no reason to put up the façade.
The two hours passed quickly, his thoughts shifted between his mission at hand and his family back on the island. He smiled when he thought of Emily getting hurt trying to tame his wild horse. He knew it was wrong, but he liked his stallion ornery, it suited him well. Still, he hated when Emily was injured, though it happened often enough. He wondered, jokingly, if she could get injured in a padded room and figured she of all people could. Her green eyes filled his mind as the night grew on, those flowing, piercing eyes that somehow managed to drill deep into his soul with a simple glance.
Chevalier heard the sounds of the evening coming to a close. The heku were now in their houses and the lights slowly turned out. He peered around the door and saw a clear pathway to his next stop, an alleyway behind a small tailor’s shop. He almost ran into a group of heku coming out of a bar, but managed to slip into the shadows as they passed him, unknowing how close they came to dying. He smiled at the thought of a heku bar. It was a place for donors to gather because they were well paid for their services.
The night drew on, and Chevalier counted himself lucky as he ran into no one, and went undetected through the night. He was over halfway to the palace when he heard the sounds of the city coming alive. He made it to his third staging area, a place he planned to spend the entire day. He’d seen the area when he last visited Selest and she had given him a tour of the city. He thought it was a dangerous spot, a place for someone to hide and it came quickly to his mind again when it was he who needed to disappear.
He crouched in the small area just below one of the city streets. The area was to collect excess rain water during flooding season, but was perfectly dry during this time of year. He watched as people passed and talked about their day. He carefully listened to their conversations, seeing if there was anything he could find useful. He could gather from their conversations that Selest was only planning on being there for another few days, and then she was heading back to Council City. Little did she know that she wouldn’t be returning to her beloved palace, she would be banished just outside of this city.
Chevalier had already prepared the ground. The hole was 6 feet deep and surrounded with runes. A simple wooden coffin sat in the hole with the top laying off to the side. Once he put her inside and sealed the coffin, she would be unable to escape for the 525 years that the Elders decided on, slowly regaining most of her natural form over the first ten years. It was a horrific experience. The heku banished would spend that time with the pains of hunger and the memory of their life slowly fading. It was a punishment that was too harsh for the infraction, but needed to keep peace within their species.
Darkness fell on his seventh night away from his island and he set out again. Tonight he would reach the castle and would either drag Selest’s dead body away, or they would drag his. Either way, it would be over. His first obstacle was only a hundred yards away. The castle in this city was surrounded by a sharp iron fence with two guards at the entryway. He knew he could easily handle two guards, his experience taught him that. Once he had them dead, he could take one of their robes and more easily walk through the castle.
He watched as the changing of the guard occurred and saw that the two in the front were young and seemed inexperienced. He understood further why it was time to get rid of Selest. She should have known better than to post anything but the most experienced guard at the entrance to where she stayed.
Chevalier was at the first guard before the young heku could even turn his head. His strong hands wound around the heku’s head and tore it off in one swift movement. The second guard was stunned and only brought his sword up when Chevalier appeared at his back and tore at his neck with his teeth. The second guard fell easily, and Chevalier was able to move them out of sight and steal a robe from the taller one. The robes were dark green and smelled of strange incense.
With the robe on, he covered his face with the hood and crossed his hands in front of his chest, as was customary in this coven. He’d seen the entire guard staff walk in this form, though he wasn’t sure why they did it, it wasn’t hard to imitate. He was surprised at how easily he walked through this castle and his desire to get Selest off of the Council grew stronger. She was careless, and her security was lacking, an inexcusable offense.
He wondered if the two guards would be the only innocent lives he would need to kill today as he stopped in front of her office. He could hear her inside, talking to someone with a soft, timid voice. They were just visiting, casually. He picked up no conversation of any importance. He knocked hard, and their conversation stopped.
“Enter,” she said, and he opened the door and stepped into the room.
“Yes?” Selest asked the one she thought was a guard.
Chevalier reached behind him and locked the door. The mortal in the chair looked at him coyly. He had a new bandage on his wrist. Chevalier thought quickly that at least she went to banishment with no immediate thirst.
“What do you want? I’m busy,” Selest asked, standing up.
Chevalier lowered his hood, and Selest gasped, then dropped into a defensive crouch. He reached over and quickly killed the mortal, who put up no fight and his neck was easily broken without so much as a scream.
“Don’t do it, Chevalier,” Selest hissed at him.
“You’ve become lax, Selest. The Council has spoken,” he told her and crouched low as his hands balled into tight fists.
“I’m surprised the cowards didn’t send your mortal to do me in… what an inconvenience to lose their Chief Enforcer when his little girl could have done it,” she said, grinning.
“Five hundred and twenty five years,” he said to her. He was required to give her that small piece of information.
“So long? What have I done to deserve such a long sentence?” she asked, shocked.
“Five hundred and twenty five years,” he said again, and took a step toward her.
“You won’t get out of here alive, you know that,” she said in a panic.
“Maybe, but neither will you.”
“You’ll leave Emily and your son. How can you do that to them? Let me go and I won’t tell anyone. I’ll let you walk out of here and return to them.” Her eyes were pleading. Selest knew nothing could change the Chief Enforcer’s mind. That’s why he was such a strong force on the Council. She wasn’t surprised at all that he had been chosen to take her place.
“You underestimate me, Selest. That is one of the reasons why you need some time away.” He was surprised at how she froze as he approached her.
“Please, Chevalier, don’t do this. Emily will…” Her words were cut off by his hand around her neck.
“If I don’t, then someone else will,” he said, tightening his fingers.
Chevalier could feel her vertebrae crush under his fingers. Once she crumbled to the floor, he grabbed the dagger from his pocket and pricked his finger, then let a drop of blood fall onto the body of the Elder. Selest healed enough to gasp just as her body turned to ash.
He fell into a chair. He hated this part, the energy it took to turn a heku ceremoniously to ash was extreme. He sat on the chair and put his hands on his knees, grinning slightly at the thought of how easily Emily could turn a heku to ash. Though he felt weakened and tired, there was urgency. He had limited time to regain his strength enough to make it out alive. He looked around her office as he recovered. She had piles of papers waiting for her attention, papers that would never be signed, orders gone unanswered. The mortal laying on the ground looked up at him with unseeing eyes.
The few minutes it took Chevalier to regain his strength allowed him to study her room. He smelled incense in here, strongly, and thought it might have been a way to relieve stress. She’d had more than one donor today. The one he killed was the fifth mortal in that office in the past few hours.
It only took Chevalier a few minutes to move Selest’s ashes into the small leather draw-string bag. He slipped it into his pocket and pulled the hood back over his face. Just as he reached for the door handle, a knock sounded. He froze, unable to even breathe.
A second knock made his heart race.
He heard a man outside the door say, “Maybe she left for her room?”
“No, I checked in there and her guard said she’s in her office,” a female said.
“Ok, go see if she’s taken her donor to the bus,” the male suggested.
Chevalier waited until the voices disappeared to slowly open the door and look out into the hallway. He locked the door from the inside and then shut it softly behind him. He slowed his breathing and squared his shoulders after pulling the hood a little further over his face, then took the long way to the front door, going down past the kitchen façade and around through the library. He hoped by taking the back way to the door he wouldn’t be seen and identified as an intruder.
Chevalier could see the front door from the shadows under the stairs. He was just about to calmly walk to it, when an alarm sounded and the entire castle came alive. All of the robed figures were running toward the back of the castle. He took off with them, needing to blend in with others from the coven. He couldn’t risk be seen as the only robed heku going out the west doors.
In the mad rush to get to the meeting area, none of the panicked heku saw anything wrong with someone taking off into a side room. Chevalier shut the door softly behind him and opened the large window. He looked down and saw it was only ten feet to the grass. Hoisting himself into the window sill, he dropped into a crouch on the ground below.
The shrill alarm was still sounding as Chevalier ran through his mental image of the city and found a suitable location he could use to wait out the panic. He had no problems getting to the abandoned house. No windows were unlocked, but he was able to break one of the locks and slide the window open. The house was damaged on the inside, and he easily found a suitable hiding spot. One of the closets had caved in, leaving a small area that he was able to crawl into.
Chevalier waited and watched as the hours flew by. Two hours after the alarm sounded, it ended, but the rush of feet and angry voices in the streets continued. He could smell the tension and the terror. He heard voices yelling about the missing Elder and Valle Warriors attacking as he came face-to-face with several of Selest’s guards.
The job had been too easy, further proof that it was past time for Selest to be removed from office.