Sasha The Assassin Part 2

Sasha walked the three miles to the sprawling estate of Lord Brown. The manor had been in a constant state of remodeling and repair for the last five years as the Brown family had decided to start making the place look nicer to get ready for their impending return to power as the Lords of the Southern Lands. Sasha slinked about to the back of the estate since there was no way a slave, even one as powerful as Sasha was to be permitted use of the front entrance.

Pablo, one of Lord Brown’s many staffers saw Sasha entering the building. “Sasha my dear, the Lord expected you would be a little bit later. I shall alert him to your hasty arrival.” Sasha liked the old man and she studied him as he left the room, rail thin with little white hair on the sides and back of his head, he didn’t shave his head as most people did. A few moments later Pablo waved her into another room.

“Sasha, look at them, are they not beautiful?” Lord Brown said in his deep booming voice. There on the table where eight of the ten rings of the champion. The metal in the rings rippled with energy giving them a luminous glow. “We are so close my child, only two rings stand between us and finally being able to reclaim the power that was stolen from us four hundred years ago.” Sasha did all she could to pretend she was listening to the speech. Ever since she had left Mistress Melody and became a servant of Lord Brown all she’d ever heard about was how the Champions had stolen the Browns throne and that now the Browns were going to get it back.

She was personally responsible for three of the rings having been obtained. The others she didn’t know about and didn’t care to know about, the folly of all this was that none of the rings did a damn thing till all ten were on the hands of one person and the tenth ring resided deep inside the castle of the capital city. Sasha had no idea what insane plan Lord Brown had in store to try to pry that ring from the Champions grasp, but she felt confident it was very likely to kill her.

“And the day of the great assault just happens to be the last day of your service to me.” Lord Brown said, the words snapped her out of her stupor. “Just think that I will once again restore the Brown family name to its rightful place on the final day of your bondage. In less than a month it will all be over. ” He said it with such joy that it chilled her bones. She was going to be walking into a trap and he was insane enough to believe she’d make it out OK.

“Oh and we know of the ninth ring’s location.” Lord Brown said. “It’s being transported to from the Northern Mountains to the capital city. It’s a standard escort, and likely a trap, but I’m sure you’ll figure out how to handle it.” He finished with a matter of fact tone.

“Did the Greens give you this information?” Sasha asked.

He studied her for a moment. “Yes they did, why are you so distrustful of them?” he asked her back.

“Cause they are giving you power beyond measure. Once you have claimed all ten rings you will be an unstoppable killing machine. You know the stories of what the Champion did.” She knew he hated hearing that word but she said it none-the-less. “If you wanted to slaughter the whole Green family and purge their bloodline from existence you could do so. There is no contract you can’t cancel, no oath you can not break once you’ve obtained these rings. To trust anyone in such a situation is madness.” Sasha replied.

Lord Brown laughed his jolly laugh. His brown eyes had a spark of joy in them that illuminated his round face. He rubbed his bald head as he smiled as Sasha. “My son is married to their daughter. They are having their first child in three months. The Browns and Greens have been allies since this nation was founded and together we shall rule the Southern Lands. My child, do not worry of such things. Worry only about your ride to the Northern Road and the slaughtering of the king’s men that you shall be doing to get me that ninth ring.”

He sat down in front of the table holding the eight rings.  “You want it messy?” she asked him, surprised at his request.

“Yes. I honestly think the crown is testing me. Taunting me with this ring and seeing if I have the nerve to go after it. So you might as well strike hard and show them that I do mean business.” Lord Brown responded.

“Will the crown declare war on you? Will the Champions unleash their armies upon you?” Sasha asked. To brazenly assault the king’s men as Lord Brown intended would provoke a response.

“If they do, it will be too late for them by the time they are ready to strike. I am sure they will do things to try to meddle with us, but we’ve been planning this for a long time, we have everything accounted for,” Lord Brown said, his smile that of a true believer expecting to enter paradise. “Your horse is waiting for you. It shouldn’t be more than ten hours of riding to make it to the North Road. The convoy is well north right now.  It will be easy to find them and set up a proper ambush.” Lord Brown told her.

“I will not fail you.” Sasha told him as she turned to leave.

“Sasha” Lord Brown said, stopping her in her tracks. “You were rather quick to answer my call. Were you causing trouble in the market again? He asked.

“I didn’t kill anyone, but there was a blacksmith who insulted me. I might kill him later.” She told him.

 Lord Brown sighed. “Just don’t do it in public.” He told her as he sat down and stared at his rings.

Sasha knew she had time to kill before she had to get to the north road. She was going to meet up with the blacksmith this evening, and she wasn’t going to kill him in public.