Kyle2: Convicted

After what seemed like only a few minutes since Kylie came to her room someone was knocking on her door “Can I come in Princess?” it was her mentor.

Kylie asked her to come in. She was a member of the queen’s council of Jupiteria working on protecting the crown. Quickly she cleaned up her face with a facial tissue and hoped she didn’t look bad. She didn’t want her to think she was worried about anything. That would bring her grandmother here and start a big inquisition and honestly, she just wanted to take a bath and sleep. It was her luck Magda had to visit her that afternoon of all days. She usually visited only once a month.

The woman looked at her critically and said “You don’t look well princess. You have grown very thin since I last saw you. Your grandmother told me you have been very unhappy since you made the decision to go along with the war.”

So that’s why she was here, Kylie thought uneasily thinking she didn’t want to talk about anything right now, least of all politics. “Magda, I am very tired after showcasing all my wedding gowns to the designers. I just want to take a nap. Can we please talk later?”

Magda looked at her red rimmed eyes and thought she had been crying. A few moments ago when she was waiting with the hair dresser and the designer, they had told her she didn’t answer the door. Was she feeling guilty with the first decision she had made in the council? She didn’t think that was what had caused the princess to cry. She started noticing other things too as she looked at her.

There was red finger marks on her hands and her arms and her hair was disheveled, ringlets coming loose out of the elaborate design of her hair, that was tucked up on a pile above her head. Alarmed she looked more and saw that the wedding dress was badly crumpled and it had brown marks on it near the hem of the skirt as if she had taken a walk in brown sand and there was a smear of blood on her dress too. The only place she could think of, that had brown sand was the garden and the escape route. But as she had been in her room the whole time it could only be that she had been walking on the escape route.

“Princess, are you all right?” she said pointedly looking at the marks on her wrists.

Kyle looked at her wrists and her eyes widened momentarily as she covered her wrists and said nervously “Oh, yes, yes I am perfectly fine.”

Narrowing her eyes Magda watched her wondering why she was protecting someone who had raped her quite obviously.

“Magda, I really want to sleep now.” She said in an almost pleading, small voice.

She looked lost, Magda thought getting angrier by the minute, as she thought she had failed the duty of protecting the princess and her virginity till she gets married. “Alright princess, I’ll leave you then.”

As soon as she left her, she called Dr. Kate Harris, Kylie’s personal doctor and asked her to come over and see her. Then she called her body guard and asked if any man had entered her room after the hairdresser and the designer. The guard said no, looking perplexed and worried. “I want to see the footage of the last hour or so of what happened in the escape route.”

The body guard frowned at the strange request and searched for the footage from their cameras that were everywhere, except the princess’s room, while Magda went about her business. A few minutes later she came back and they watched through the footage in the escape route and Haziz muttered a curse as he saw Avett dragging Kylie forcefully down the escape route until the camera couldn’t get them anymore. He couldn’t believe Avett had done that.

“You know who that is Haziz?” Magda asked him watching the recording coldly.

“Yes, Ma’am. He is a guard here at the palace. The princess and he were friends and honestly I wouldn’t have thought he would manhandle any body. He was a good boy.” Ha said dreading what Avett would get for doing something that stupid. He knew the boy loved the princess but manhandling her would get him in serious trouble.

“He didn’t man handle her Haziz. He raped the princess.” She said in a matter-of-fact voice. “You knew that boy didn’t you and you knew he was interested in her. Why did you keep him anywhere near her?” she demanded.

Haziz blinked at that and grimaced. It couldn’t be true, he thought with disbelief. He knew Avett and he was a good judge of character. “He was the most disciplined boy we had among our guards here. He is also very skilled if you had looked at his CV you would know. Every unmarried male here, has a crush on the princess, Ma’am. Doesn’t mean they would all be so stupid. I kept her around Kylie because she liked him. He was her childhood valet and he appeared an honourable man.” He said shaking his head.

“Honourable or not, he is getting arrested for raping the princess if the doctor confirms Kylie is not a virgin anymore.” She snapped.

“Dr. Harris is here?” he asked with disbelief because the princess was sleeping now and she had particularly ordered not to let anyone in.

“Yes. She is checking her up as we speak and if she confirms Kylie is no longer a virgin, I am signing a warrant for his arrest.” She said remorselessly.

“But Ma’am, the princess would be furious if she realized she was checked on when she was sleeping.” He reminded her.

“She wouldn’t know.” Magda said calmly. At that moment Dr. Kate Harris appeared with a frown on her face. Magda asked solemnly “Is the news bad?”

“She is not a virgin anymore.” She said looking troubled.

“Well, then lets get Avett arrested.” Magda said calmly.

“Wait. Maybe, you shouldn’t be too hasty in assuming she was raped. I don’t think she was raped, it’s my professional opinion and personally I think you should ask the princess’s opinion about this. A few weeks ago, Avett was the only one she talked about. I was worried she might have fallen in love with him, but she assured me it was a friendship thing. There is something more to it here. I don’t think Princess Kylie would like Avett to be hunted down and killed Magda.” Dr.Kate Harris said looking ill at ease.

“So what do you think we should do, Kate? It was our duty to make sure she was a virgin till she got married. You know how the royalists are about this. They are quite serious about the next heir to the throne belonging to only one man. They don’t want a slut on the throne. Someone who could be blackmailed, someone who didn’t have any values when it came to sex would be so amenable to any men’s wishes, you’ve heard the whole lot of reasons they have for this. Lenore would be furious when she finds out and honestly I don’t want the brunt of her anger on me. The only way we could save ourselves and the princess, is to get the stupid boy arrested. He had no right even touching the princess and he should have known that. This video here is enough to prove he raped the princess. We don’t need anything else.” Magda said with restrained fury as she moved out of the camera room.

“This isn’t right. You are not in this plan of Magda’s too are you?” Dr. Harris asked as she looked at the head body guard who looked uneasy too.

“I don’t have a choice. She is the boss around here. She will be calling out the executioners one way or the other.” He sighed as he walked out of the room with the doctor.

At 8pm that night

Sebastian looked at the controls on the bolter and the stars around as the bolter took up speed. It had been a very long day and he wanted to go home and rest for a while. He looked back at his sulky looking siblings, who were sitting on the cushiony passenger seats of the bolter and sighed. He had been very late to fetch them from school.

It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t him who usually fetched them home from school. It was something Avett did and he took it for granted that Avett would do the same today. Yet, when Aline called him up and said she and Jon had been waiting for an hour to be picked up, he had suggested they stay with some friends as he was working at the time. He had called Avett a million times it seemed and he was still not answering the phone.

Running a hand exhaustedly over his face, he called out “You guys okay over there? Hungry?”

Aline answered “I am starving. What do we have for dinner? Is Avie angry at us Seb? He didn’t answer the phone when I called him.”

Sebastian sighed heavily “Well, I hope he isn’t angry. I reserved a place at Freddie’s restaurant tonight. We are going out to eat tonight.”

At that Aline came over to him and kissed his cheek “You are wonderful, did I tell you that? Can I have that potato and pumpkin ravioli with that yummy sauce freddy makes there?”

“Oh, you can have anything you want Ally.” He said with a smile tugging one of her braids. He looked over at Jon who looked at them almost guiltily but stayed where he was.

At that moment Sebastian’s phone rang and he pulled it out. The phone call was coming from someone he didn’t expect to call him. It was the head body guard of Kylie, Haziz. Thinking something happened to Avett at work, he took the phone quickly. “Do not go home, Sebastian, you guys are marked by the executioners.” He said as soon as he took the phone.

Shocked Sebastian laughed uneasily thinking he was kidding. “What do you mean by that Haziz? What have we done?”

“Your brother is hunted down for raping Princess Kylie. We have been looking for him for twelve hours now without success. So the executioners have been called in now to track him down. That means all of you are in danger. If any of you go home now, you would be help captive for an inquisition or as bait to capture Avett, you know that Seb.” He said.

“Wait here. You must be mistaken. Avett wouldn’t do anything like that.” He said defending his brother.

He heard Haziz sigh “yeah, I think so too. That’s why I am informing you guys about this now.”

“Yeah, you’ve been such a great help” he said sarcastically. “What if Jon or Aline had been home when the executioners came in? When did this hunt start anyway?”

“About six hours ago. Usually we are given twelve hours but due to the nature of the crime, executioners were called in before the usual twelve hours. I am informing you because I am no longer in charge of the hunt.” Haziz said calmly.

“Well, thanks a lot bud, especially for tracking us down.” Angrily he switched the phone off and saw that they have been tracked already through the phone and they knew their direction from the bolter. Thanking himself for undertaking a course in driving bolters in manual mode, he shut off the auto mode and all signals of the bolter that were connected to the central traffic control terminal Cintron 52, as he deftly guided the bolter through the air.

Sounding fearful Jon and Aline asked together “What’s happening Seb?”

Sebastian wished he could explain or say something silly to pacify them instead of telling the horrible truth. It was too bad they were old enough to know a stupid lie but not mature enough to understand and cope with the truth. It would be a disaster if they started having a family argument now, Sebastian thought and hence he decided to be authoritative instead of explaining what was going on “I need to pick up Avett soon. Do you know where he could be Aline, Jon?” he asked feeling great fear for Avett. If Avett got caught he would be killed. What had he done and where was he now? He called up Avett again. He didn’t answer on the first ring. He didn’t answer on the second ring either. The third time though, someone answered. It wasn’t Avett and Sebastian feared the worst, that Avett was caught.

“Hello, hello, is this someone who cares for the person who owns this phone? Hello, anybody there?” the man was saying.

Sebastian overcame the horrible fear as he thought this man who kept shouting hello quite cheerfully could not be an executioner. So he said “hello” back when the man was almost giving up.

“Is Avett there?” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah. He sure is here. Is that his name? He has been drinking here for twelve hours now and honestly I am worried about him mister. His phone had rung too many times to count now. I suppose it was you sir.” He said in the same cheery voice.

“Um, what is the name of that place? Maybe I’ll have to come over to get him.” He asked even then knowing Avett’s phone would be tracked. His only chance was that he could get there faster than the executioners.

“It’s the downtown bar sir.” He said.

The downtown bar was a famous bar. Sebastian felt his heart lurch with fear as he realized he might not make it on time. The place was quite far from where he was.

“Gimme the phone.” Someone muttered and then the line went dead.

Sebastian pulled up the speed to as high as he dared without killing them and asked Jon and Aline to fasten their seat belts as he dove into the traffic. He was there in less than ten minutes and his heart fell as he saw executioners everywhere inside the bar. Where was Avett? Did they catch him, he wondered. “Stay put, you two. Don’t go anywhere, okay?” he said in his strictest voice looking at the both of them.

They both nodded and Sebastian went into the bar, trying to blend in with the crowd. There were so many executioners. He looked around the bar stools and saw Alfyn, the head of the executioners talking to one of the bartenders. The man was pointing at a girl who was dancing around one of the poles in the centre of the room and he saw Alfyn look at the girl as the bartender explained something to him.

What the hell was he saying, he wondered angry at himself that he had no psychic powers like some zalzes. He looked around the bar in vain, not spotting Avett anywhere. If he was here, they would have spotted him now, he thought as he started moving towards the rear exit. Executioners were now guarding the doors and outside around the vicinity of the bar. Avett cursed in disbelief.

“What a curse, Seb. I didn’t know you could curse that profusely in plutonian.” A man said snidely beside him.

Sebastian looked back and smiled as he saw who it was. “Ulf, thank god you are your rutting, drinking self. I am so damn glad to see you here.”

Ulf grinned. “So, is Alfyn looking for you or what?” he asked casually.

“No. But he is looking for my brother who must be somewhere here.” He said uneasily.

“Your brother? I didn’t know you had a brother. I know your sis though.” He said with a wink at him.

Sebastian gave him a disgusted glare “Aline is fifteen ok. She is a kid for your licentious thoughts.”

“Kid or not, she is quite a hot girl. I’ll wait for her.” He said calmly.

Sebastian wanted to punch his nose at that. The thought of any man thinking of his little sister didn’t sit well with him but he stifled the urge because he wouldn’t dare create a scene that would grab the executioners attention and also because he needed Ulf’s help.

“Come five feet near my sister Ulf and I’ll mar your pretty face. You know how good I am at sculpting right? It would be miracle if a woman ever looked at you again.” He couldn’t help threatening.

Ulf grinned up at him and said “Then I’ll pass I guess. I heard about the sculpting lesson you gave to Tomas. Man you are bad but I loved it.” He started laughing.

“Well, you are a freak Ulf. I can’t believe I am asking this but, I need a favour.” He said looking with despair around the bar.

“A favour is it? What do I get in return?” he asked looking at him quite seriously now.

“I saved your stupid brother the last time he got into a gang fight. Haidis was going to keep him starving for a month as punishment. It was me who stopped it. Now I want you to return that favour because I need one desperately now.” Sebastian replied calmly.

Ulf narrowed his eyes at that and Sebastian knew that wolves had a code of honour that kept them obligated to another for their own family members debts. Ulf would repay the debt owed by his brother. “I swear I should get that little wolf skinned. He owes a favour to everyone in the universe. Whoever made up the stupid honour code anyway? What do you want then?” he asked sulkily.

“I want you to track down my brother for me.” He said.

“There is no zalz other than you here.” Ulf replied.

“My brother is not a zalz. He’s human and very drunk if I have been told correctly.” Sebastian explained.

Ulf gave him a peeved look at that “They are all drunk humans here, Sebastian. I have to smell you.” He said as if the thought didn’t appeal to him at all.

Sebastian didn’t like the thought either but before he could react or say anything Ulf sniffed near his neck and set off walking. Sebastian followed him as he walked. “Did you get him?” he asked.

“Actually, yes. It’s not a him. It’s a they. Both your brothers. They are both making a big scene as we speak, right outside the bar. I think you’ll need all your imagination to save your brothers’ asses this time.” He said as he showed Avett and Jon through one of the red and yellow windows at the bar and Sebastian’s face paled at what he saw.

Avett had knocked down Manley, who was holding Jon by the collar and started a big fight with a gang of burly looking men, right in front of the bar where everyone would see them. Horrified he quickly turned into a snake and slithered out of the bar without anyone seeing him. He was murderous. He wanted to kill both his brothers right now.