The Night Watch | The Nocturnal Chronicles {Book One}

vi. the hunter

"It's a game of hide-and-seek, and you are 'it'. Make sure they don't see you coming and tag them, or in better words, kill them. It's just a game of hide-and-seek."

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The Trust. It was slowly being earned. Erudessa had managed to survive two days of nothing but sorting books, scrolls, and papers. Finally, after forty-eight hours of grueling paperwork, Grimm moved her on to gathering things from the city for him. Mostly food and herbs. Sometimes, she would have to go into the forest and various fields to find everything he needed. She did that for about a week before he told her she passed that trail and that she only had one more before he would allow her the opportunity to do a test mission to see if she was prepared for the physical tasks.

     Grimm led her into a clearing in the middle of the forest past the valley behind the castle. This third trial would involve one of the Watchers and Grimm's personal favorite at that. Erudessa wouldn't get to meet this person all she knew was his code name was the Hunter. He was a man with extraordinary tracking skills and keen sense. In a certain way, he and Erudessa were on the same level. They were amazing at finding people and even better at taking them out. So, naturally, this was a test of her skill. If she could at least come close to matching the Hunter's skill, she would be accepted into the Night Watch. She already knew what she wanted her code name to be.

     The task was simple. She was given a weapon of her choice and all she had to do was find a training dummy somewhere in the forest to take it out. Then, she would take it back to the clearing. She chose her dagger. It was the obvious choice. She wore her normal clothes for hunting down marks. It was simple. She was just taking down a mark. Except this wasn't for the benefit of the king but the kingdom.

     When Grimm gave her the single, she darted into the trees ahead of her. She inspected every branch and every leaf that littered the floor. It would all lead her to her mark. The wind picked up and she was glad she already tied her hair back into a braid. The wind blew leaves away revealing imprints on the ground. It would have been easily looked over as they were faint. The leaves made it just a dull outline of a boot print that wasn't very deep. She followed the tracks skeptically glancing around at the trees for other clues.

     This was the Hunt. Tracking down a mark and taking out. The only difference was that now she had to deliver the body as proof. She could understand why Grimm wouldn't want to go find it though. They need to keep this all a secret from the king who was only a few miles away. He couldn't know the Night Watch was planning on recruiting a member from right under his nose. He would kill everyone he knew to be involved.

     That meant Grimm. Without their leader, she didn't know how they would do without him, or if things would just go as planned until they found out he was dead. Erudessa, on the other hand, would be locked away until she could convince the king she was on his side. Since King Eben wasn't that trusting, she'd be locked up for years in her room. Though she would have committed high treason the king couldn't kill his Assassin. He'd be nowhere without her. In a sense, he owed her everything.

     If she wanted, she could usurp the throne from him. His Council would be happy to see him gone. As well, they would be happy to know the most dangerous person in the kingdom was too busy making decisions on a throne to kill any of them. They would be more than happy to have her sitting atop the throne.

     Things would go a lot differently if she was a part of Nocturne Specto. She would have to live a double life. Instead of hiding from the people, she would be hiding from the royal family. They were the only family she had ever known, and she would be lying to them constantly. She didn't want the king to gain too much power, but she didn't want to lose her family if she was discovered. She would have absolutely no one then, and worse, her head would be on the chopping block no matter what. If she was a part of the group that was out to get King Eben, he wouldn't care if she was his own daughter. Her head would roll.