Falling [completed]

46

    Remmy stepped into the library and inhaled its familiarity. She had missed this place. Even though she had been back, she was spending more time with Aldric than she had intended to. She had only seen Aurora twice since the tournament. Neither time had Aurora told her of any changes made by the Ruler.

    Remmy sat at the table and didn't pull out any of her books like she usually did. She sat in silence and drummed her fingers on the table a few times before deciding it annoyed her. She sat still and listened to the emptiness of sound. She lulled out in her thoughts and was pulled back when Aurora stood in front of her path of vision.

    "Shouldn't you be at school my dear?"

    Remmy sighed. Aurora didn't show any emotion, but Remmy could tell she was disappointed in her.

    "Yes I should, but I have a few things weighing my thoughts down. I was wondering if you could help with that."

    Aurora pulled a chair out from across the heavy table and sat down, silently giving the okay that Remmy had her full attention.

    Remmy sighed again. She was making it a habit today apparently. There was no easy way to put it, but Remmy would have to come clean about her visit to the castle to get Aurora's point of view.

    "The current Ruler used his power to become elected. My name was on the card and he tricked a council member into thinking it was his name, announcing him the new Ruler. I found the card later that night but kept it to myself. One of the council members discovered what had happened and said he would make it right by me, but I haven't heard anything from him since I left the castle. Now he isn't answering his phone and now I hear about all theses new laws. Something doesn't seem right."

    Aurora looked at Remmy for a long while. Remmy couldn't hold her gaze long and dropped it to the table to watch her hands and waited for Aurora to speak, letting her take in everything that was said.

    "No my dear, something is not right. The Ruler is the highest position bestowed, and it belongs to you. A dishonest man now holds that position, and after thinking through most of the new laws, it seems he is making sure he will keep it."

    "What do you mean?"

    "The Ruler has made it to where none of us can join forces to overthrow him. We cannot seek outside help. He has set forth a curfew to keep everything in the light. It won't be long before he enslaves us to meet his whim."

    "You think he would go that far?"

    "He is a ceptual, from a long line of men in powerful positions. He has made his family proud of his accomplishment and will not diverge of it lightly. The people in this realm will become enslaved, if that is what the Ruler wishes. Slaves are less likely to overthrow authority figures."

    Remmy sat and thought about this for a moment. She should have fixed this before she left the castle, before Yorick had been crowned. Now she would have to take a few more steps to amend her mistake. She needed to come up with a plan on how to do so, without alerting Yorick. If Sean would answer his phone, this would be so much easier. She could get the council on her side, demand a revote and Yorick would be overruled.

    Remmy had no way of contacting the other members of the council. The only thing she could think of is to go to the castle and hope that someone had stayed there. They were all supposed to be on two weeks vacation, but she hoped that maybe one of them hadn't wanted to leave, that maybe one of them didn't have a life outside of work. Or at the very least, one of them had left a number to get in contact if something happened. She just knew she had to get there, be in the middle of things.

    She could get Mack to drive her to the castle, but then she would have to tell him why she needed to go. She really wanted to avoid telling Mack about what had really happened. Disappointing him would make her feel all the more worse about the situation. The only other person she knew with a car was Quin.

    She might be able to get Quin to take her. Quin was always looking for an excuse to drive, and going to the castle would be a perk in itself to her. She was sure if she could find Sean, she could get him to let them stay the night. Putting Quin up in one of their lavish rooms would be all the payment and enticement Quin would need. The provided clothing would be icing on the cake.

    Remmy started to feel a little better now that she had a plan forming. She peered up and realized Aurora had left her to her thoughts. She glanced at the time and decided to catch Quin before work. She was supposed to be training with Aldric tonight, but that could wait.

    Remmy started walking to Mack's office building, wanting to catch Quin outside. They could make plans to go tomorrow after school. The castle was a few hours drive and she wanted to get there and still have time to investigate.

What would she do if she couldn't get a hold of any of the council? She could wait until they got back from wherever they were. That would give Yorick two weeks of complete control. He could do a lot of damage in that time. Confronting Yorick would only get her put in the dungeon, if they had such a thing.

There were two ways a Ruler left their position, by force or by death.  Remmy almost shivered when she thought of the latter.  Most Rulers had left by death of old age and natural causes.  She couldn't think of any that had been struck down in the last few centuries.  No, removal by force would be the preferred way to handle this, by force of the council and by her.

Remmy sighed.  What was she doing?  She shouldn't care about any of this.  It isn't that bad.  And if it does get bad she could leave with Aldric through the exchange.  Unlike the openings to the Realm, the exchange had two openings, and they couldn't close either.  It was under the control of a different division, outside the Ruler's touch. 

Remmy thought about all the people she would leave behind if she fled with Aldric.  In her heart she knew there was no way she could leave any one of them behind.  She cared too much for them.  That was why she had to fix this, because she cared.  She had to do what was right.  She was too honest to let such a lie ruin her life and the lives of the ones she cared about.  Even if it meant she lost Aldric in the end, she had to do this.

Remmy made it most of the way to Mack's office building.  It was a few hours before the afternoon shift started.  She silently kicked herself.  Waiting outside would look weird and would only increase her worrying thoughts.  The last class had just let out, so Quin might be at the java shop and walking there would kill some time even if she didn't find Quin. 

Remmy about faced right into solid steel.  A hand came up and covered her mouth with a moist cloth while the other bear hugged her body dragging it off the main path.  Her arms were pinned to her sides.  She became frantic, the adrenaline pushed her heart to a fast rhythm.  She inhaled a sickeningly sweet smell and found she wanted to gag instead of scream.  She tried to catch her breath that she was now choking on.  Her eyes were getting heavy and watering with every forced breath.  Her ears began to hum with silence.  The hand over her mouth and nose gave her no room to move.  Her once flailing legs softened, like a pendulum finally stopping.  Her world went dark.