Chapter 2: Sicarius

  I sat on a bed in a jail cell, trying to figure out how many days I had been here. I had stopped counting after ninety-seven, knowing that my death sentence would never be carried out. The king that had sentenced me was now dead, and if they were going to kill me, it would have been shortly after he was killed.

The new king walked in, I saw him through the bars of my cell. I quickly pulled my covers up over my head, making it look like no one was in the bed. I listened to the king’s footsteps, they stopped at my door.

  "Where is this prisoner?" the king asked the head guard, Christian, who was also in charge of me. He also happened to be a former assassin.

  "Hold on." Christian said. He walked into the cell, and looked around. He saw the bed, and noticed the irregularity in the way the sheets fell. He grabbed the cloth and ripped it off the bed, but I was quick with my escape. As soon as the sheets were off the bed, I slipped past Christian and ran halfway up the stairs. Christian didn't react, so I stopped running. I looked the rest of the way up the stairs and saw about seventy-eight guards posted at the entrance of the dungeon. I turned back and looked at Christian.

  "The fact that you think I can’t take on seventy-eight guards, makes me utterly depressed. I am an assassin of the red crystal. Oh, wait; you still don’t know what that means." I teased.

  "Look at the guards, Sicarius; they do not belong with me. And you can't win in a fight against them." Christian stated bluntly.

I looked at them, and saw he was right, these where high class warriors. Their armor was strong, almost impenetrable by knives, and each had a long sword, multiple daggers, and a bow.

  "Fine" I said as I sulked back down the stairs, "you win. But you still don’t know what the red crystal means." Christian wasn’t happy with that and he couldn't stop a frown from spreading across his face. I stood next to him as he talked to the king.

As he talked I was forming a plan, I slowly reached into my pocket and closed my fingers around the small, invisible bottle. Christian saw me reach into my pocket and I was swiftly slapped. When my face was turned away I quickly grabbed the draft from my pocket and swallowed it in a single mouthful. I turned back their direction, using every ounce of self-control I had to stop my face from twisting from the acidic flavour.

  My stomach heaved and I couldn’t pay attention to the king and Christian’s conversation. My sight became blurred, and I fell to one knee. I started to sweat, though my skin was ice cold. The poison was working faster than I had expected.

 “Sicarius, what’s wrong” Christin asked with genuine concern in his voice.

  "I’ve been poisoned." I managed to stammer, then my vision left completely, and I fell to the floor.

 

※

 

  When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was in a bed, not a prison bed, but an extravagant bed with velvet sheets. I looked around and saw that the walls were cobblestone, and there were a few candles spread about. I remembered reading about these rooms when I was young, they were medicine rooms. If someone of the noble class was ill, they would be brought here to be treated or mended. ‘What am I doing here?’ I thought. I was a noble person, but no one on this continent would know. Therefore I shouldn’t be treated here. The door opened and I instantly dropped back into the bed and lowered my heart rate. A man, I assumed, came over and took my pulse.

  "Still unconscious" he muttered, almost to himself. I kept my eyes closed, for fear of him seeing them open. When he left, I jumped out of the bed, and pulled on my clothes that were sitting on a chair beside the bed. I looked around the room and was surprised to see my assassins’ blade lying on a table across the room. I went over and grabbed it, when the door started to open again.

I quickly ducked into a corner so I would be unseen. The medic reentered and was carrying a bowl of flower peddles used for incense. When he noticed I was not in the bed he dropped the bowl and ran out of the room. I was about to move when I heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hall, guards and the medic entered the room and looked around.

  "Are you sure she escaped?" a guard asked.

  "Yes, she was there one minute, then I left to get some supplies, when I came back she was gone." the medic said with a worried expression.

  "Well she still has to be in the castle, and if she is, we’ll find her." then all the guards left the room. I smiled, ‘idiots’ I thought to myself, ‘they will never find me.’ I figured if they didn't see me then, they won’t see me now.

  I had sat there for about ten minutes, then I got bored. The guards hadn't come back to this room yet like I figured they would, so I stayed put. Then I thought to myself ‘there is one person who could find me, Christian’. He had been in charge of me for the time I was in prison, so he knew all my tricks and actions. A couple minutes later, Christian walked in with a bunch of guards.

  "Alright Sicarius, if you come out now, you won't get put back in prison." he taunted. I moved out of the shadows, making it seem like I appeared out of thin air. A few guards screamed when they saw me, making me laugh.

  "Why would I be released?" I questioned, concealing a smile.

  "Because, my liege has a job for you. However, to get the job, you will have to give him some information."

  "I will gladly tell him everything he wants to know, seeing as it’s all irrelevant anyways." I smiled as Christian looked at me.

  "The king wishes to see you in his chambers." Christian stated bluntly. As he escorted me to the king’s chambers, I noticed that there were more guards around the castle then there had previously been and that more windows were shuttered as well.

  When we reached the King’s room, the chamberlain welcomed us in.

"I’m assuming Christian has told you that I will free you from prison of you give me some information?" The king said as we walked in.

  "Those were not his words, but yes, he told me of the concept." I said. "So what are your questions?"

 “How many assassins are in the Assassin Community?” The King started.

“There are normally fifty-six hundred assassins in the Community.” I replied.

“How many leaders do they have?”

“The number of leaders is a bit harder to determine. It really depend on the strength of the community and the number of contracts we are currently getting. However, mainly there are five or six leaders.”

The King pondered this for a moment. “How many soldiers would it take to wipe them out?" he asked.

I laughed. “It would take more soldiers then you can muster. Once an assassin is killed, another immediately takes their place. There is no way to wipe them out. There are many eternal assassins as well.”

At this point he cut me off, “What’s an eternal assassin?”

“They’re members of the Eternal species that have decided to devote their eternal, non-aging lives to the cause of the assassin community. I am one of these eternals. But, before we get off topic, what is your job offer?”

  "I want you to protect my nieces from the Assassin Community." he said simply.

  "Well, that's a hard job for little old me to pull off by myself. I mean, after all they are all qualified assassins. I might need a bit of help from my friends in the criminal underworld…" I said kindly.

  The King and Christian conversed in whispers before addressing me again. "Very well, but you must have one guard with you at all times, where ever you go." the king detailed as he looked at Christian.

  “Sure, I’m plenty happy to play nice with Christian for a while.” I smiled innocently.

  "Then it is settled." the king smiled, thinking he had me under his control. Sadly for him, he did not know how wrong he was.

Author's Note

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