Before the next rising of the full moon.
That was that Moebius had said to Emily, when the deed that she had been hired to deal with must be completed. His words had been very insistent and had held no room for manoeuvring. Emily would not have bothered to try anyway. She had lived by her own creed that she would accomplish any task that she had been assigned to, no excuses given. And she did not wish to give excuses to the Time Streamer.
The moon would be full within the next two days, and Emily still had not found a convenient way in which to kill Queen Iseult. The woman was guarded well; being a political enemy of the Circle made one more grateful of guards. The Serioli knew that an outright attack was doomed to fail. Some of the Nibelung guards might not have been the fastest and most quick-minded in the lot, but they had been trained to work as a component. Emily, who had no other people to call to her side, was cagey enough not to risk her own neck.
Poisoning the queen's food was also out of the question. Some one, a very smart advisor, had mentioned to the queen that most rulers upon making political adversaries found out too late that their meals could turn into a well-planned death trap. A food taster had been hired and while none had died so far, the alarm would ring around the palace once one brave appetizer did. The circle around the queen would tighten even further, and no attack would ever succeed.
Racking her brains for a solution to a growing and grave problem, Emily occupied a carved wooden chair in the corner of William's study room, her brooding eyes fixed to the floor as her mind drifted miles away. She was an assassin; she had taken cases far more difficult than this. The only thing that changed was that Emily was working within a time limit. For what reason Moebius wished the queen dead before the next full moon, the Serioli did not bother to dwell on it. She had not been paid to think of such lofty political thoughts, only to act on her missions' objective.
Prince William, who was learning his numbers from a tutor that was quick with the cane to correct his mistakes, snuck quick glances at his new bodyguard. Dressed in drab browns and a subdued blue tunic, the prince's guardian did not look like she was capable of taking down a vampire. Without her sword and cloak, Emily appeared to be harmless. With such a plain face too, no one would even look at the strange Serioli twice. Of course it was William's first time meeting a Serioli and he did not know how that raced behaved. But he wished to learn.
She wasn't like any of the other women in the castle that William had known. Emily Sunfire did not bother to speak anything unless it was something important, and she did not involve herself with the gossip that passed from servant to servant. Her clothing was more of a man's than a woman's, and she could run much faster than the captain of the royal guard was able to. In the prince's opinion, Emily was one of the most remarkable people he had meet who lived outside the castle.
For a few moments the boy allowed himself to feel honoured. Not only did he have a bodyguard all to himself, but also she was also a vampire hunter and a Serioli. It made her unique. And to William, it made him feel distinctive as well. No other royal child, as far as he knew, had a Serioli keeper.
"Mind the numbers and not other people!"
The cane cracked down swiftly on the desk, the sound like a peal of miniature thunder in the study room. Jumping in his chair, more startled than scared, William quickly turned away from looking at Emily and went back to his mathematics.
"Leave the prince alone. You have been pushing him hard enough, and he won't remember anything if you beat it into him."
The teacher turned to face Emily, a look of indignant rage plastered on his wrinkled face. "And what gives you the right to tell me what I can and cannot teach His Highness? Some woman whose only talent in life is to kill things? I bet that you do not even know your basic geography! Someone as lowborn as you would not need it when all you need to do to move from place to place is hitch a ride on some hay wagon. Prince William will need to learn the countries, just as he will need to learn his figures, when he becomes Nibelung's next ruler." So enraged by the Serioli stepping in where she did not belong, the tutor began to spit his words out, the saliva hitting William's paper. The spit mixed in with the ink and it began to run, making the scratchy and messy numbers mix together.
In the small and cool chamber, the grey walls unadorned save for books lining the back wall and a red carpet on the floor, the elder man's frail cries were amplified ten times to what they originally were.
Emily gave a long and cool look at the tutor. Rising from her chair slowly, the royal bodyguard used her height as an advantage over the older and smaller man. Coming over to stand beside William, the Serioli took the paper that the prince had been working on without looking and crumpled it up into a ball. Tossing it aside, all the while staring down at the feeble professor, Emily spoke to the young prince.
"Come on Prince William, class is over. You can study tomorrow."
Getting out of his chair fast enough that it fell back onto the floor with a clatter, the prince was out of the door faster than most people would expect a child to move. Dressed in the reds of the Nibelung royal family, it was like watching a ruby imp dart from one hiding spot to another. As soon as Emily was sure that the last of William's blonde hair could not be seen in the chamber, she pressed her face closer to the tutor's. The man flinched and stepped back as he looked into eyes that held something he could not even begin to describe.
"Do not, ever, undermine me in front of His Highness. And under no circumstances are you to injure the boy in any way," Emily's voice was a low octave, but the power behind it filled the room. "He has been through a recent vampire attack, and let me assure you tutor, if I find one cane mark on his back, I will not tell the Majesties and let them deal with you. I shall undertake that privilege myself."
"I-I-" A weak stutter passed his creased lips.
"Do you understand, old man?" Emily leaned forwards quickly, causing the man to react by stepping back quickly. Nearly losing his footing on the worn flagstones, the tutor dropped his cane and stepped back on it. The piece of wood cracked down the middle.
"Yes," he answered meekly. Nodding, accepting his submission, Emily turned and strode from the room, leaving the tutor behind to pick up his ruined cane and mend his damaged pride.
William saw the Serioli come out of his study room, an almost smug look on her plain face. The prince knew he was not the greatest decoder of emotions on the human face, but while he hadn't heard a word that his bodyguard had said to his tutor, William fantasized that it was something particularly vile. After all in his childish mind, William was sure that Emily had faced down tougher opponents than his teacher, and had won.
Fixing a small bow to Emily as she came up beside him, William smiled. "Thank you for getting me out of that class. I thought I wouldn't be able to stand another moment, Miss Sunfire."
"You can call me Emily, Your Highness," she responded in a bland and almost dry voice. "When you call me miss, it makes me sound older than I am."
His curiosity piqued, William could not help but ask the question that had been running through his mind since Emily had become his personal guard. "Just how old are you?"
Turning to look out one of the arched windows, Emily motioned with her hand that they should walk. "I am not yet familiar with the Stahlberg castle, Your Highness. If you would give me a tour of your home, then I will willingly answer most of the questions that you ask of me."
Eager to learn more about Emily, William nodded vigorously. "Come on then, I know a really nice place to show you. Father doesn't like me watching the soldiers fight, but I like watching them practice their drills." Grabbing Emily's left hand with his own small two, William pulled her along and was more than happy that he had been giving the responsibility of showing his bodyguard around her new home.
"So how old are you," William asked again as they walked down a narrow staircase, passing a serving woman as she was coming up. The woman nodded to William and barely glanced at Emily as she continued with whatever task she had been assigned to.
"You know it's rude to ask someone that, Prince William."
"I am the prince of Nibelung. You have to answer my questions because it is a royal question. My father said so."
Rolling her eyes at the imperious tone that William had adopted, the assassin made a white lie. "I cannot remember. I know I was born in the winter months, sometime after the Snowgale month. Perhaps twenty-two years ago. Normal births aren't recorded the same as royal ones are."
"But you are a Serioli. Your people must have some way of marking the days, right? I've read as much as I could about the Serioli and all I know is that your race is good at making weapons."
Emily gave a short laugh. It echoed down the long hall they were travelled, to which at the end lay an open doorway that lead out onto the sprawling, rose-lined ramparts of the Stahlberg castle. "We have no special way of marking days, Your Highness. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the Serioli aren't that much different from the other people of Nosgoth."
The disappointment that showed on William's face was apparent, but Emily held her tongue. Serioli did not talk about personal matters to non-Serioli, be they royalty or even a Circle member. Emily was certain that William would not be able to even grasp some of the more detailed levels of Serioli culture until he was much older, and even then to understand a culture one had to grow with it to begin with.
Coming out of the dark halls and into the full light of the mid-afternoon sun, the two blinked. A wave of heat washed over them, an abrupt change from the coolness inside the castle. The summer months were approaching, and the heat was making itself known. Soon the crops in the fields would grow, and the summer market in Stahlberg would be filled with people from the other countries of Nosgoth. The young prince and Serioli walked along the inner ramparts and watched the guards below in one of the many courtyards practice their drills. William leaned up against the stonewall, careful of the growing roses and the prickly thorns as he watched the soldiers below with a sharp eye.
"My mother wants me to learn my letters and numbers, and my father does too. But what I really want to do most of the time is to watch the soldiers fight and learn from them. I have a wooden sword that I got from one of my aunts - not like yours Emily that is real - and I practice with it all the time. Sometimes I'm even able to fight with one of the royal guard if no one is watching."
"I see," was the answer. William glanced curiously at Emily.
"When did you learn to fight? Who taught you?"
Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, Emily folded her arms over her chest and appeared to give the question serious thought. "I was about your age when my father handed me my first sword. My uncles taught me to fight, but it was my older siblings that took me out to my first vampire hunt."
The prince's eyes lit up when he heard the word 'vampire'. "Really? What was it like?"
Emily shook her head. "I'll tell you when you're older, Prince William. Your parents would not like me to tell you stories like that."
"Tell me! I already know how to swear because of the guards. I hear them talking all the time. I have heard their stories, and none of them are very eventful. Sometimes they even repeat the same stories." William stomped his foot. "It's boring!"
"Are you having a tantrum, boy?"
Frowning as deeply as possible, William shook his head. "But I will if you don't tell me. I will scream."
Clapping her hands mockingly, the bodyguard glared back. "You do that then. But make sure to scream long and loud, boy, because it takes a lot for someone to hear from so far away." She nodded down to the guards, who didn't seem to notice or were even aware of the small drama happening above them. Emily knew she was goading the boy on; deep down the Serioli wanted to know if William ever had it in him to make good on any threat that he ever spoke.
As he opened up his rosebud mouth to scream, it was Queen Iseult and her ladies in waiting that interrupted. Walking down from a bisecting rampart that curved off to the northern section of the castle, Iseult called out her son's name as she saw him. Snapping his mouth shut, William turned to face his mother, certain that he heard Emily snickering behind him.
"William, why are you out here instead of studying?" Iseult looked beautiful as always. Wearing a blood red gown that accented her white hair, the material was made of light damask to cope with the oncoming heat of the summer months. The queen's hair was parted down the middle and combed back into a single braid, pulled over her left shoulder. With the other ladies of court standing around her, dressed in their own colours, Emily had the mental impression that she was staring at a menagerie of paradise birds instead of women.
"Emi – I mean, my bodyguard," William caught himself before he spoke Emily's name, "told me that I had been studying long enough and thought that I should spend some time outside."
Blue eyes flickered from the child to the young woman. Emily gave a small nod, confirming the truth in William's words.
"Yes, I... told the tutor that it would be a good time for him to take a rest. He is after all, an old man and the heat can not be good for some one his age."
Iseult gave a smile that showed in her eyes. "I see. And it is not because a certain someone insisted on such a thing, it is Miss Sunfire?"
The Serioli managed to give a dazzling grin back to the young queen while at the same time crossing her fingers behind her back. "Why Your Majesty, I have no idea of what you speak of. I would never do anything of the like."
"Mother," William interrupted, "can you tell Miss Sunfire to tell me tales of her exploits when she hunted vampires? I would like to learn about such things. If I am to be king one day, then I will have to fight vampires as well and I wish to be prepared." The way the young prince folded his arms across his chest, and how he planted his feet on the parapet, Queen Iseult was struck by just how much he looked like his father Sigurd.
"One day, when the weather is not good William, then I believe your bodyguard would be kind enough to tell us all a tale," Iseult answered, catching Emily's eyes with her own. Nodding her head in acquiescence, the young woman turned her gaze out towards the city that lay beyond the castle walls. It was very faint, but the Serioli could pick out the sounds of the people with her excellent hearing.
Brynhild tapped the queen lightly on the shoulder with the feathered fan that she carried. "My most gracious lady, may I please remind you that you need to speak again to yet another Council representative that has made an engagement with you?"
Iseult knelt down to look at William. "Would you be able to leave us alone for a while, Willy? Your mother needs to talk with her ladies. You can go down and try to practice with the guards below." The queen gave a wink. "I won't tell your father."
A wide grin crossed the prince's face. Nodding quickly, he forgot in his haste to chastise his mother on using his nickname in front of the other adults. As he raced past the ladies in waiting to find the stairs that led to the courtyard below, Emily moved to follow. Iseult stopped the Serioli with a hand.
"Please, for just a moment stay here, Miss Sunfire." The queen gave a long sigh, one that held a mixture of resentment, anger, and exasperation. "It never ends. Just when I feel that I have made some headway with them, those Pillar Guardians feel they can try to change my mind with some other tactic. More lackeys for me to handle. Praise be to the Gods that none of the Circle members themselves come. Then we would all be in trouble." Iseult glanced at Emily. "I suppose that you are not use to hearing a queen denounce the all powerful Circle, but it does happen."
Emily shrugged her shoulders. "My people do not follow the rule of the Council. We wouldn't stand for it to begin with."
"And how do the Serioli rule?" The question was asked by Anya, the youngest of the ladies. "I am interested in knowing about the Serioli. Like how handsome the men are, and how they take wives." Good-natured laughter followed the last sentence.
"We Serioli rule by having aldermen elected each year, one from every village to make sure that all voices are heard. As for marriage," the disguised assassin noted quietly how Anya leaned forwards expectantly to hear the last, "you expect something strange and with a romantic notion. It's not like that. It's the same as here. If the man, or woman, has an interest in anyone else, they approach him or her. Or challenge them to a duel to see how well a warrior they are. It is our way of 'testing out the ice' which is a saying from one of the villages further up north."
Anya giggled. "I don't think I would be able to do such a thing."
"No," she replied mildly, "I don't think you would."
A tense silence hung in the air. The young lady looked over Emily, wondering if the Serioli meant the words in jest or in truth. There was nothing on the bodyguard's face that would give it away.
"We must be off." Queen Iseult clapped her hands together. "We cannot keep the Circle's messenger waiting, although it would be tempting to do so." Emily let the women pass her by and was about to follow William down to the courtyard when she was stopped again. "Miss Sunfire."
Emily turned to face the queen. "Yes?"
"Watch your steps on the castle walls. I forgot to tell you before. Some of the places along the walls, and the steps themselves, have been worn away so much that some people loose their footing. It was only a few weeks back that a servant unfortunately fell from the steps." Iseult's eyes were cast down for a moment as she remembered the tragedy. "I would not want the same to happen to you."
The Serioli made a small bow. "I thank the queen for giving me the warning." As the small cluster of women set off again, Emily watched her target with narrowed eyes. Mentally the assassin grinned.
And thank you, Iseult, for giving me the idea that I sorely needed and lacked in.
~ ~ ~
It had been too easy. Truly, the queen was a smart woman, but she trusted far too easily those that were close to her or to her family. And already she was treating Emily as family, albeit a distant relative. She came to see the Serioli, as the note had instructed, on the southern parapet. Emily had stated she wished to ask the Nibelung queen a few questions relating to her new job. Preferably while the two were alone, and that no one knew of the meeting. It was easier, Emily had penned in the note, for the words to never reach the ears of Council members or their servants.
Waiting for the co-ruler of Nibelung on the parapet, Emily took the few moments she had to herself to look over the view. Stahlberg castle's south wall ended at the end of a sheer cliff, the distance to the ground below staggering. The Serioli had an attack of vertigo every time she looked over the edge; soon she stopped trying to see the ground below. Beyond the cliffs that hugged the southern edge of the castle and the city were miles of unending and unbroken forest. The green leaves rustled in the wind; off to the southeast Emily could make out a river flowing.
There was no light from the moon, now nothing more than a sliver in the night sky. It was a perfect night for the job that lay ahead of the Serioli assassin.
Emily did not have to prepare herself for what she was about to do. There were no qualms running through her head, no second thoughts. For an assassin who had killed as long as she had, there was nothing there now. If anything, her mind was quiet. Everything, she reasoned, had to die sometime. The queen, unfortunately, would not be able to live to a grand age as some others had. Emily did not feel in any way sad that she was about to make William loose a mother. She had lost her own mother when she had been little, and she had pulled through the ordeal. William would do the same.
The light patter of footsteps behind the Serioli marked the appearance of Queen Iseult.
"Evening, my queen." Emily dropped a proper bow as Iseult came up beside her child's bodyguard. Wrapped in a black robe to ward away the brisk wind that blew over the castle walls, Iseult nodded in return.
"What matters do you wish to speak of, Emily? Is my son causing you trouble?"
Waving a hand, the Serioli gave a little smile. "Please my queen, your child is extremely well behaved. But before we talk of anything else, may I inquire as to how your meeting with the Council representative went?"
Iseult's mouth narrowed, as if she had swallowed something bitter. "At every corner they try and overpower me. They want nothing more than for Nibelung to become a puppet state, acting under their commands and to their fancy. My husband is more of a fighter than a diplomat, so I cannot count on him to speak well against the Nine. When he and I both die, we do not want to hand over an impoverished country to William."
"It must be difficult, fighting against such powerful people."
The queen nodded. Leaning up against the edge of the parapet, she looked out at the forests. "You must think it boring to talk with people day in and day out. It is so much easier what you do, fighting the problems in front of you. You do not have to worry about people in the shadows plotting behind your back, at every turn."
Emily was quiet for a few moments. "It isn't as easy as you would think. Then again, everyone has their own problems. What did you tell the messenger?"
"I told him," Iseult's voice carried a note of humour in it, "I told him that he could take his ass and walk back the way he had come. He had to be taken by the guards and lead out of the castle. He was causing a scene."
"But still," Emily sighed, "enemies are everywhere. The Circle of Nine doesn't stop until they have what they want."
"I will fight them," the queen spoke defensively. "Until I die."
"Would you?" The Serioli cocked an eyebrow. Iseult nodded. "You are a woman of strong morals, Your Majesty. I can admire that in a person, but it still doesn't stop me from doing what I have been paid to do."
Iseult turned her eyes to Emily, a question forming on her mouth. The Serioli assassin gave a curt nod of her head then leapt quickly at the young queen. Iseult tried to move, but Emily's hands clamped down on her shoulders like iron vices. Before she could scream a hand covered Iseult's mouth. Kicking wildly, throwing herself from side to side the young woman tried to move, but Emily had dealt with stronger people. The queen was no challenge.
"I bring a message from the Circle," Emily hissed in the queen's ear. "They could not order you, they could not reason with you, and so they finally decided to kill you. I am your angel that will send you to the next plane of existence."
Iseult shrieks were muffled by Emily's hands. She was crying frantically as the Serioli dragged her towards the edge of the parapets. "Like you said, Your Majesty, people fall up here. You gave me this idea in which to kill you, since all others would have failed. I admit that this is a crude way to kill someone such as yourself, but I'm all out of options."
Pressing a bundle of nerves along the queen's neck, Iseult slumped over in the Serioli's arms. Her cries halted and she did not move. Emily had been taught which nerves incapacitated or even killed when touched correctly. All she needed to do was make it look as if the Queen of Nibelung had been sleepwalking and had fallen to her own death. Easy enough for the assassin.
Hauling Queen Iseult up by her arms, Emily rolled the woman onto the edge of the parapet. And then, with a slight shove, pushed the queen off.
Emily did not see so much as hear the body hit the ground. With Iseult dressed in her dark robe, and with the moon not lighting up the sky, it would take a while for her body to be found. When it did happen, people would all say the same thing. It was an unfortunate, if tragic, accident.
The pressure of completing her assignment now off the Serioli's orders, Emily calmly and quietly walked back to her room in the Stahlberg palace to sleep the rest of the night away.