Cassandra
"Lune?" I called out for the wolf, but to my dismay, there was no response.
Before I had come into the woods, I had stopped back at my home to grab the necessary materials required for communicating with the wolf. Quill, ink, paper, an old sundress I never wore anymore (until we could get the poor girl a new change of clothing, it would have to do), and a knife. I figured it would be easier to draw fresh blood rather than reopening an old wound every time.
I cupped my hands and called out again. "Lune? Lune, where are you?" There was a ruffle of foliage and then a white head with a loopy grin popped out. I let out a breath of relief. "There you are," I said. Setting my bag down, I pulled out the sundress and then the knife. At the glimmer of steel, Lune's smile faded. "Don't worry," I assured her, "it's okay. I'd rather it be a new wound anyways."
I tossed the sundress at her paws and drew the blade across my skin, wincing slightly at the stinging pain as blood welled up on the top of my skin. I offered my arm to Lune. She walked over and lapped up the blood. I turned around, giving her the privacy that she needed, and a moment later, there came a tapping on my shoulder.
I gasped in delight. "It fits you so well," I said. "You look adorable." Even though it was still moderately dark, I still saw a bit of color flushing her cheeks. "Now"—I grabbed the paper, ink, and quill and handed the items to her—"you're in danger," I said, removing the bounty notice from my pocket. I smoothed out the piece of paper and showed it to her. "They're hunting you. Well, I mean they were already, but now with this bounty, there'll be more of them scouring the woods. It's not safe here anymore. You need to leave."
Lune paused, then began scribbling words down on her paper. I read them aloud as she wrote. "I will not leave until the curse has been lifted." I looked up at her. "Lune, you have to. If you're dead, there will be no lifting the curse. At least take refuge somewhere out of the town's bounds, somewhere they won't—"
"No." Her voice was frail and hoarse, but even so, I heard a whole fire of resolve behind that one word. "No," she said again, but a whisper this time.
I smiled. She reminded me a bit of myself, stubborn and head-driven. Once this was all over, I think I'd introduce her to Claire first. I think it would be funny to see her dealing with two of me.
"Okay," I said at last. "I won't force you to leave, but if that's the case, then we need to find a way to remove this bounty off your head. The problem is, I'm not sure if there is any other way excluding bringing you in." I rubbed my chin, pacing the woods. "Maybe that's our only choice. Bringing you in, I mean." I stopped pacing and Lune began writing on her page. "I take you in, and, assuming they don't kill you instantly on the spot, they leave you in a cage. Then at the darkest hour, I sneak in, free you, and we escape with no bounty and a nice sum of money." I looked over at Lune. "How's that sound?"
She held up her paper, and I read it off. "Who's the mayor of the town? Well, that would be the Seigneur," I said.
Lune dipped her quill in the ink bottle and continued writing. I moved to stand over her shoulder, nodding along as she wrote. "Oh, a bargain, you say? I think that might work." I looked at Lune, and she looked at me, a smile spreading across both of our faces.
Now, we had a plan.
⥷⭃
Sometime after the sun had fully risen, I returned to town, leaving all of my belongings and a promise to return tonight bearing news with Lune. The town hall was a decades-old building, built of shale, stone, and wood at the far end of town just beyond the reach of the woods. Previous Seigneurs had chosen to reside outside of the town hall in their own manor, typically a ways away from the town they presided over. Thus, it was common for the Seigneur to be absent when the town needed him most. Fortunately, the current Seigneur chose to remain here, residing in the town hall with his little, lovely wife.
I stopped walking a few feet away from the staircase leading up to the entrance, running through the plan in my mind. Persuade the Seigneur and get that bounty off of Lune's head. Seemed simple enough.
I skipped up the steps and pushed open the heavy doors of the town hall, strolling inside. The interior vaguely resembled a church with its rows and rows of benches and podium at the very end of the wide hall. I frowned. Did we even have a population large enough to fill up all these seats? Turning away from the benches, I snooped around, looking for the entrance to the Seigneur's office, where I assumed he would be.
My search took me to a narrow hallway, and at the end of it was the location I was looking for. I threw open the doors of the Seigneur's office. The Seigneur was a stocky sort of man. A prominent chin with stubs of beard and a sparsely haired head. He sat languidly in his armchair, one arm draped over a woman and a wine glass in his hand. The woman, who I assumed was his secretary, was looking fairly slipshod and disheveled, clothes wrinkled and hair frizzed. They looked up at me, a tipsy daze in their eyes.
"Mr. Seigneur," I said haltingly, "I would like to discuss some business with you."
He blinked slowly. "Do you have an appointment?" he slurred.
"N-No, but this is urgent."
The Seigneur waved his hand dismissively and nodded at his secretary. "If you don't have an appointment, I'm afraid we cannot speak."
His secretary removed his arm from her shoulder and began pushing me out of his office. "Wait, wait, wait, wait!" The door slammed shut in my face. Jaw dropped and fuming, I stared at the Seigneur's office, arms crossed. Unbelievable. This was the man that was running our town? This drunkard? I banged on the door and tried the knob. "You've gotta remove the bounty on the wolf," I said. "She's not—"
"No appointment, no entry," the Seigneur slurred.
I paused, hand hovering over the door. This man was drunk, and so was his secretary. How would they know whether I had an appointment or not? I waited a beat before knocking on the door again.
A muffled, "Yes?" came from behind the door.
"I, uh," I said hesitantly, "I have an appointment scheduled for… right now?"
For a moment, there was no response, but then I heard the click of a lock, and the door swung open. The secretary stood in the doorway, swaying on her feet.
"Appointment?" she asked.
"Yes," I said.
She stepped aside, and I strode back into the office, settling into the chair across from the Seigneur.
"So," he said as he lit a pipe, "what do you want?"
"You put a bounty on the animal running wild in the woods," I said. "I want you to remove it."
He inhaled deeply, and then exhaled, expelling a circle of smoke. Then he fixed me with a disinterested look. "Why?"
"Why? Because it's innocent."
"Isn't it running around and killing cattle?"
"No, no, that's—" I cut myself off and forced out a sharp breath. I was getting absolutely nowhere with this. There must be a different way around it. "Think about it," I said. "You've put a five hundred silver bounty on this beast. Why?"
"To get it killed faster."
I slapped my hands on the desk. "Right. To get it killed faster." Scooting the chair back with a screech, I stood up. "Five hundred silver. That's a lot of silver, silver we could be using to improve the roads or the community well or heck, even the town hall. You could go down as the most respected and loved Seigneur in this town's history."
"That does sound nice," the Seigneur said, scratching his stubby chin.
"And even if you removed that bounty," I continued, "the beast will be gotten rid of regardless. The farmers don't want their cattle being killed, so they'll kill the thing killing their cattle. Yes?"
The Seigneur looked at me queerly. "You have reason, I suppose."
I snapped my fingers. "And that's why you should cancel the hunt and remove the bounty. What say you?"
"Well, I say…" He paused, staring up at the ceiling. I glanced up at where he was looking, then turned my gaze back down to him.
"You say yes?" I said hopefully.
The Seigneur returned his gaze back to me. "No." He set his glass on the desk. "Janie kicked her out."
His secretary stood and ushered me out of the office, much to my protest. She lingered in the doorway once I was out in the hall. "Next time, make a real appointment," she said. Then she slammed the door in my face. Again.
I stormed out of the town hall. I couldn't believe this man was so thick-skulled. I had crafted the perfect argument— the perfect argument, and he still thought it would be better to leave the reward still dangling above the town's nose. Lune was careful. She wouldn't let herself be caught by any hunter. There wouldn't be any way to help her people if she was dead. So all that was left was to devise another plan. It really did seem we would have to go with the 'deliver and escape' plan after all. I had a feeling that—
"Hey, Cassandra."
I tripped on the stairs, heart drumming in my chest. That voice. Was it…?
"God, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." A pair of strong and gentle hands took mine in his, and I looked up into the beautiful, blue eyes of Peter Roran. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm much better now that you're here," I sighed.
He smiled with a heartwarming laugh, and I about fainted. "That's good." Peter helped me to my feet, but his gaze lingered on the bandage wrapped around my arm. "I didn't notice this before," he said. "What happened?"
"Oh, it's nothing. I was in the woods, and I tripped. I cut my hand on some particularly sharp tree bark."
"Tree bark, huh?" He rotated my hand, gaze taking in every detail.
"Yeah, just tree bark." I sucked in a breath. "I'm going to get going now. My mother needs me." I waved a stiff goodbye and then turned around to leave, but Peter snagged my arm.
"Are you alright?" he asked. "If something hurt you, you can tell me. We've known each other for years. You don't need to hide from me."
Peter spoke with genuine concern, I believed, but even then, I still couldn't tell him the truth. It wasn't that Lune was a secret per se, but I just didn't trust the knowledge of her existence with some people. Some people like the ones trying to hunt her down, to kill her. Some people… like Peter.
"It was just a tree," I whispered.
He sighed. "Okay, I see how it is. I'll see you tonight then?"
"Yeah." Then I turned on my heels and walked away. Though I was nearly at the end of the street, I could still feel his eyes on me, watching, observing. Something told me that he didn't believe my story.
Not one bit.