War Backstory: The Honorable Mayor Blackwell

    Pete had just gotten off the boat when he saw Freddie running towards him. “Pete! Pete! You have to help! Bill the Bartender is gonna shoot James if somebody doesn’t talk him out of it!”

                Pete turned to his sons “Get the fish into storage. I got another fire to put out.” He said as he rushed after Freddie and got to the bar. “Stay out here Freddie. I don’t want you getting shot if Bill takes complete leave of his senses.”  Freddie gave a quick nod and Pete turned and walked into the bar.

                He threw the swinging doors open and allowed his massive frame to take up the doorway. Pete knew his size was one of his great advantages in dealing with people, standing well over six foot tall with broad shoulders and a barrel chest made him the biggest man in most every room he walked into. Age had taken away some of his strength and put some white into his raven black hair, but he still was very confident of his chances in a fight. The room went silent as he walked towards the bar where Bill had his gun in hand. “You are not shooting anyone Bill.” Pete said.

                “This piece of shit hasn’t paid his tab for over two weeks. He hid in the back of the joint and waited till he could flag down one of my waitresses and conned her into opening a new tab and getting himself a free mug of booze.” Bill’s voice was whiny and pleading, he punched the bar in frustration to really drive home his outrage.

                “And for the crime of scamming you out of a beer you’re going to kill a man? Really Bill, that seems like a good idea to you?” Pete responded to him.

                “Fucking bullshit this is. The sheriff in this town is a drunk who couldn’t give to shits if anyone here gets killed. The absentee King sends us all too all corners of the world just to take some land so those fucking God worshipping lunatics don’t get to it first and now here I am having to justify and defend myself to a fucking fishmonger. This world has lost its fucking mind.”

                Pete could hear people murmur in shock at Bill’s disrespect. “He’s fucking with the mayor, nothing good can come of that.” One voice muttered in the background. Pete smiled at Bill he knew the expression on his face was intimidating. He held his stare on Bill for a few moments before walking right up to the bar beside him and placed his hands on the bar, allowing himself to tower over Bill.

                Standing nearly a foot taller than the bartender Pete bent his head forward to stare down at him. Bill shuddered and then slowly attempted to lift his gun towards Pete. Pete grabbed the gun and ripped it out of his hands. “Did you seriously just try to point a gun at me? Are you out of your fucking mind?” Pete bellowed at him.

                “Fuck Pete. Come on man, people ripping me off and now I got you getting in my face. Fuck am I supposed to do? No fucking way to run a business in these lawless parts. I ain’t heard anyone try to stick up for me or tell me how I’m supposed to get restitution for my losses.” Bill blubbered. The man seemed on the verge of tears as he spoke.

                “How much does he owe you?”  Pete asked him.

                “Forty crownsmarks not counting the drink he stole tonight. So forty six.” Bill told him.

                Pete reached into his pocket and put down two hundred crownsmark bills. “There he’s covered and I’m buying a round for everyone in here.” Pete turned from the bar and looked at the crowd, pausing for a beat before finally shouting. “Hear that everyone? This round is on me!” The bar responded with cheers and celebration to Pete’s decree.

                Pete looked through the crowd that was rushing to the bar for their free drinks and found James. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked him as he grabbed James by the shoulder.

                “Getting my free drink. You just said this round was on you.” James told him, his eyes glassy and his breath stinking of alcohol.

               

                “That’s for everyone else, you’re leaving Bill’s bar and you’re never coming back. You ever set foot in this bar again and I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.” Pete said as he put a firm grip on James shoulder.

                “Fuck you man! I didn’t need you to talk old Bill down from shooting me, he was never gonna shoot me anyway. Now you’re gonna tell me where I can and can’t drink, fuck that shit! I’m an adult and I can do as I fucking please!” James said, his mouth spraying Pete with spit as he spoke.

                “Folks around here call me the mayor because I take care of problems. I take care of problems because I’m a man of my word. Bill didn’t shoot you and I paid your debt for you, it is only reasonable that you do me a favor and quit visiting this establishment.” Pete told him.

                “Fuck you mister fake mayor.” James told him as he pulled Pete’s hand off his shoulder and threw his hands up to challenge Pete to a fight. “You don’t scare me old man! You’re nothing but talk!”

                Pete made a great show of placing his hands behind his back and sticking out his chin. “I’ll let you take the first swing, but I want you to think about this really hard because if you do swing at me, we fight until I feel you’ve had enough and with the amount of disrespect you’ve shown me I’m telling you right now that if the folks in this bar don’t pull me off you that you might not survive what’s coming to you” Pete told him.

                James hands trembled as he stood in front of Pete. His chest started to heave as he began take deep breaths and his face got even redder than it was already. He made a horrible noise that sounded like a mix between a whimper and a scream as he wound up and threw a looping hook towards Pete’s chin. Pete caught James hand in mid-air. “You have five seconds to get out of this bar or this gets real bad for you.” Pete told him. “Five.” He counted down. “Four.” James yelped and ripped his hand out of Pete’s grip and stared at him pleadingly “Three.” Pete continued.

                “Don’t. Please.” James said.

                “Two.” Pete continued. James turned and ran for the door. “One!” Pete shouted at him as he ran through the swinging doors and into the street. The crowd began laughing and cheering once again as the customers went back to ordering their free drinks from Bill. Shouts about the effectiveness of the mayor came from various voices in the crowd.

                Pete gave a nod to Bill and walked from the establishment. The confrontations and problems of the town and his work on the fish boat were a pleasant distraction for him from what awaited him when he got him. He opened the front door and his wife stood before him. Jen leaned hard on her cane to keep herself upright he could see her arm shaking as she fought to stay on her feet.  Her face was sunken and the wrinkles seemed to get worse every day, as if the disease that was killing her was also aging her. Pete hated seeing her like this and rushed to her and gave her a gentle hug. She fell into his arms as he reached for her.

                “Had yourself an issue at the bar.” She asked him, already knowing the answer. He knew she enjoyed his stories and that she knew he enjoyed telling them. He nodded and gave her a brief recap of his handling of the issue at the bar, leaving out the threats to beat the shit out of James since she didn’t care for him threatening violence to fix things.

                “How badly did you threaten James?” She asked him, she knew him so well that he couldn’t bullshit him.

                “I was going to kill him.” Pete told her.

                “Oh Pete. “ She said as she withdrew from his hug. “I supposed a stupid drunk needs the threat of an asskicking to get the point. I just wish people were more reasonable.” She shook her head and then placed a hand on Pete’s chest. “It was bad today the pain really has been getting to me. I’ve been dying for months now and it’s almost over. I’m so sorry Pete. I guess I’m the one problem you can’t fix.”

                She fell back into his arms and they cried for a while. “People die. They always will die. I’ll die one day same as everyone else.” He reached out and ran his fingers through her stringy white hair. “The bravery you show in the face of death is something I hope to have when my day comes.” He told her.

                “I’m not brave. I’m just a realist. I’m sick and this is the end of me. I get to find out if the Believers are right I guess.” She said with a laugh. “That’s what religion is for isn’t it? Comfort people on their way out give them something to hope for other than oblivion?” She closed her eyes and squeezes her hands into Pete’s sides. “Let me tell you, the way I hurt, I more than welcome oblivion.” After a few moments she leaned away from him. “Are you really leaving this place when I’m gone?” she asked him.

                Pete nodded. “I have to go to Midpoint. I have to do what I can to help. It’ll be good for my brother too, get him a fresh start again.” He tried to continue but Jen put a finger to his lips.

                “Two nations that have been planning on killing each other for over a hundred years and Pete Blackwell is going to keep them from tearing at each other’s throats? You must think yourself a pretty remarkable man if you think you can pull that off.”  Jen smiled weakly as she finished.

                “You know the Kingdom is trying to make this fail. It’s why they have sent Thad as the leader of our group. That drunken fool will ruin everything. I bet the Believers will be sandbagging it much the same way.” Pete told her.

                “Pete, the town is named Midpoint for crying out loud.” Jen told him.

                “Well we wanted to call it Explorers Outpost and the Believers wanted to call it Serenity or Tranquility or something friendly sounding, all their town names all sound the same to me unless it’s the name of one of their holy men.” Pete interrupted her to explain the name.

                Jen gave him that look that told him to shut up and he stopped talking. “Midpoint isn’t a town name it’s the name of a military objective. We must secure Nearpoint to be able to launch an attack upon Midpoint and once that is taken we shall reach out and crush enemy resistance at Farpoint! This whole farce is an excuse for both sides to say that they tried to stop the war from coming so they’ll feel better about killing each other when the war does happen.”

                Pete kissed her forehead and held her face in his hands. “You are the smartest woman I’ve ever met, that’s why I married you.” He told her.

                “And my ass. I had an incredible ass when I was younger.” Jen replied and they both laughed.

                “You sure did.” He told her as he kissed her forehead again.

                “Mayor of the White Sands Pete Blackwell, off to become the Mayor of Midpoint. I do hope you know what you’re getting yourself into. Midpoint’s not going to be a town full of drunks and small time hustlers trying to score a few crownsmarks. It’s going to be real serious people who want to get about the business of killing each other. Both sides have raised armies and they’ll be looking for any excuse to use them.” Jen said.

                Pete held her and the two stood in silence for a few moments. “If nobody tries to stop it then the war will come. You said Midpoint was the lie both sides will tell themselves to feel better about what they do when the killing starts. Maybe if it’s an honest effort instead of a lie then the killing will never have to start.”

                “I hope you are right, but I fear nothing can stop it.” She clutched his shoulders and he felt how frail her fingers were. The bags under her grey eyes showed the tiredness in her. “Our sons have bought me a bunch of nice big sheets. When I go please wrap me in them and weigh them down and throw me in the ocean. We’ve made our living feeding people all the various fish of the sea, it’s only right that they get their revenge upon me.”

                They both laughed and then held each other and cried. Four days later Pete gave his wife to the ocean and then made his plans to head to Midpoint to try to prevent the war everyone was sure would happen.

War Backstory: Finding God

Amanda watched as the men in crisp white coats and emerald green pants lined the streets. “Mom he’s really coming! The Divine Patriarch is coming!” she shouted.  Her mother looked down at her with a proud smile.

“Thank you God for this. I never dreamed in my life that I’d see this man come to our community. The papers said he cared for us but I never believed it.” Her mother said, Amanda could tell that her mother was half talking to her and half talking to God.

“Oh he doesn’t give a shit about us even now this is more bullshit to get free press.” Amanda’s father said.

Amanda’s mother had her face twist into a scowl. She was in her early forties but when she got angry you could really see the lines on her face that years of hard living had inflicted upon her. “You. You’ll get this whole family declared unredeemable with talk like that. I half think it’s your lack of belief that got poor Hector killed.” She snapped at her husband. Amanda hated it when Hector was brought up. His name made her heart ache. His horrible death was something she’d never forget. Hector had died two years ago during the Week of Fire. Riots had broken out after the death of the Chosen, the man the Church had declared to be God Incarnate on earth. The young man they gave the title to was a scion of a rich family as the Chosen had been since the founding of Utopia. Tragically that young man died less than three months into his reign as Chosen. Combined with the previous Chosen only living for nine months before dying in a horse riding accident the nation of Utopia had spiraled out of control in the belief God had rejected them.

 Paradise the capital of Utopia and the city Amanda lived in had been in the throes of violence for months and finally it came to a head with hundreds of people being killed each night. The following week the Church promised sweeping changes, not the least of which was the removal of the men who had placed the previous two Chosen into power. The face of those changes was the man walking to the center of a makeshift stage. Vincenzo Elacqua was a tall man, clad in flowing green ropes with white trim. His dark skin was atypical even for his fellow Southern Islanders and his hair was short and curly with white mixed in with the black. Amanda loved his smile and how cheerful his face looked as he stared out at the crowd of cheering townsfolk.

                “Citizens of Paradise. I came here today to make good on a promise I made when the Church declared me to be the Divine Patriarch. That promise was to conduct a fair and open search of the young children of Utopia to try to find the next Chosen. To seek out and truly locate the spirit of God made manifest in a human being.  I have had visions and they showed me this street and you people inside it. Here is where I shall find the next Chosen. One of you here is God Incarnate.”

                Vincenzo paused for a moment and when he did a voice cried out. “Deceiver! Betrayer! Servant of Gent! You seek to break the circle! To judge us all!” the heckler was attacked by the men in white coats and beaten. Amanda shuttered as she watched the man get punched.

                “Don’t be so rough on him!” Vincenzo yelled. “I was told not to come here. That I’d face dangers far worse than a misguided man yelling at me.” He said drawing a laugh from the crowd. “But I cannot be swayed from my vision. I know God is here, God is inside one of you.” As he finished speaking his hand began to sway in front of his face. Amanda watched as his eyes scanned the crowd. “That young boy with the blonde hair in the all green outfit, bring him up here.” Vincenzo said and his guards moved into action finding the boy and bringing him to the stage. Amanda thought the boy a few years younger than herself and he seemed scared as he got onto the stage with the Divine Patriarch. The crowd tried to quiet to hear the whispers Vincenzo gave to the boy before motioning him to a group of chairs on the other side of the stage.

                This process continued as the Divine Patriarch would describe a child to his men and his men would get the child up to the stage. Amanda so hoped her brother Pablo would be called up to the stage. She admired him as being smart and pious he was the one who spent nights reading both the White Book and the Green Book to her.  “That beautiful girl. The one with the flowing black hair and the white dress, bring her up here.” Vincenzo told his guards and the crowd gasped, some jeered. Amanda had no idea that the Divine Patriarch was speaking about her till a guard reached his hand out to her.

                “Come with me to the stage.” The guard said as he looked at her. Amanda’s throat tightened, she couldn’t believe that this was even possible.  She worried that she’d done something wrong and had somehow offended the Divine Patriarch. Was it her dress? Should she have worn green? She nervously placed her hand in the guard’s hand and was led to the stage. She could hear the catcalls and outrage of some of the crowd as she walked up to the Divine Patriarch.

                Vincenzo placed his hands on her face, his hands felt softer than she expected. He knelt so that he was at eye level with her. “I see God in you my child.” He said with a grin that made her relax and feel at peace with what was happening.

                Amanda sat in one of the chairs with the other kids. “Why are you here? You’re a girl!” one of the boys shouted at her. It was the blonde boy who was first to be selected.

                “He picked me, same as you.” Amanda said.

                “Well it’s still wrong. No woman could ever be the Chosen. God isn’t a woman.” The boy sneered at her.

                Another boy and then another came up on the stage. Amanda could still hear some in the crowd insulting her and being disgusted at her being on the stage. She ignored them as best she could and she scanned the crowd. After a few moments she found her mother and father looking back at her, her mother practically being held up by her father. Her mother’s body shaking with sobs as she buried her face in her husband’s chest. Amanda felt so proud that she could make her mom so happy. Pablo waved to her and she waved back and then stopped wondering if waving wasn’t very Godlike or not. The Divine Patriarch had said he’d seen God in her and if he said it then maybe it was true and she really was the Chosen.

                “Please my friends can we have some cheers for these beautiful children who represent our great capital and our wonderful nation?” A loud wave of cheering came from the crowd yet Amanda could still hear people demanding she be removed from the stage. “Now my friends, I would like to bring these children over to me to have each of them talk to me about their favorite parables from the White Book.” Vincenzo gestured to the blonde boy behind Amanda and the boy walked over to him.

                Amanda watched as the two of them talked quietly, the crowd went silent as the stranded to hear the conversation.  She wondered which of the two parables she’d talk to the Divine Patriarch about. Hector’s favorite was the brave solider it was the one she and Pablo had read whenever they thought about him. Her favorite was the beaten runner because she loved the message of serving God no matter what. The blonde boy walked back to his seat and then the next child was called and then another.

                “Now I’ve heard many of you shouting your disproval with this wonderful young girl up here.” Vincenzo told the crowd. Jeers and catcalls were the response of some but the majority of the crowd tried to drown them out with cheers. “Young lady, please come here and talk to me.” The Divine Patriarch told Amanda and she walked to him. “What parable would you like to talk about?” he asked her.

                “I’d like to talk about the beaten runner.” Amanda replied, her voice as loud as she could make it since she wanted the crowd to hear what she was saying. “It is the story of the man who tries as best he can but he loses the race to another runner. He asks God why he was defeated when he’d dedicated his all his training and all his hard work to the service of God. Then an old man who was watching the race comes to him and consoles him. The runner begs the old man to help him understand why he was denied victory and the old man tells him that God does not reward one man with victory while all others are shamed with defeat. God does not play favorites when people enter into competition God merely watches us compete and is made proud by us giving our all in His name. I love this parable because it reminds me that God loves me even when I falter and fail, that God will always support me and watch over me as long as I try my best and do I call to honor Him. Nothing will ever allow me to stray from Him and to Him I pledge my life in service.” Amanda finished speaking and could feel tears pouring down her cheeks as she did. Vincenzo pulled her close and hugged her and she could hear much of the crowd cheering.

                “Blasphemer! Servant of Gent! Breaker of the Circle! Die! A voice shouted and Amanda heard what sounded like fire crackers. People started screaming and then she realized that somebody was shooting at the stage. One of the guards on the stage was sprawled out on his side, blood staining his white coat. Amanda dropped to her knees as she kept hearing more gunshots coming from all directions the panic made it hard for her to breath. She begged God to stop the violence, to make the people stop shooting.

                Then she was floating, she didn’t remember landing or how she ended up on her back. The world was now silent to her and everything was moving in slow motion it seemed. As she sat up she saw the Divine Patriarch laying on his back, three of the other children were also on the ground, and a guard near-by with his arm hanging limp from his side, as if he was about to fall off at any moment. In the middle of the five of them was a grenade laying on the stage.

                Amanda remembered the night Hector died, that grenade had been thrown into the house, she remembered the glass of their window breaking, her mother and father screaming out for Hector not to go towards it, but he didn’t listen, he’d tried to grab it and throw it back out of the house. He’d tried to save his family and died in the attempt. Mother had never let Amanda see Hector’s body, she kept everyone out of the room and father wrapped up Hector’s body as best he could. Hector died trying to save them. Amanda always remembered the smell of the room, of charred meat and gunpowder and it sickened her. She could smell it in the air now.

                She decided she would die then and there, to do as Hector had done before her and save others and the expense of her life. To die in the service of others is the greatest tribute to God one can make she reminded herself as she rushed to the grenade and threw herself on top of it. She waited for her life to end, to enter into the circle and be reborn, she hoped Hector would be in her new family and that they could live their new lives together.

                She lay on top of the grenade for some time without anything happening, she had accepted death but waiting to die was pure agony. “Child!” a voice cried “Child!” it cried again and she looked up and saw the Divine Patriarch sitting up looking at her, he had managed to get across the stage. “Come to me! Run!” he shouted. Amanda listened and ran to him. He pulled her down and held her close to him. “Guard! Throw that thing as far away from the Peabody as you can!”

                The closest guard took a deep breath and slowly crept upon the grenade and then grabbed it and threw it behind the stage away from the gathered crowd. It landed and then bounced before landing again. On impact the grenade exploded in the middle of the street, it’s shrapnel harmlessly bouncing off the walls of the buildings nearby.

                “Miracle!” one voice in the crowd cried out, and then another, then a chorus of them. “Sign from God!” “Ellaroth’s blessing!” and other shouts came from all parts of the crowd. Amanda looked into the crowd and saw them staring at her with worshipful gazes.

                “Tend to the injured” The Divine Patriarch called out to the crowd. “Even those who tried to kill me were our brothers no matter how misguided they were.” While some did heed his words too many in the crowd were still awestruck by the bravery of the little girl on the stage.

                It started as a rumble at first, only a few voices but then it grew louder and louder “Chosen! Chosen!” the mob shouted. The same crowd that had hissed and sneered at her only moments before now decreed Amanda to be God Incarnate. Amanda’s jaw dropped she felt numb inside as she tried to process what the crowd was saying. She turned towards the other kids on the stage a few of them had small wounds on their arms and legs from the first grenade that had gone off. The blonde child who had mocked her before now looked at her.

                “You are the Chosen.” He said his eyes red and tears streaming down his cheeks. “Forgive me for doubting you God. I’m so sorry, please don’t condemn me!” he said as he fell to her knees at her feet. Amanda turned and looked to the Divine Patriarch who was now standing behind her. She could tell by the look on his face that he was as startled and confused as she was by what was happening.

                The crowd’s chanting continued, Amanda continued to look at the Divine Patriarch. She felt something she had never felt before in her life. In this moment she had seized all the power in from the Divine Patriarch. If she desired it she could declare herself God and if he objected the mob would tear him to pieces. Her fear and nerves melted away and now her gaze upon Vincenzo was one of a leader looking at her subject and demanding him to answer her request.

                She could see the Divine Patriarch breathing hard, the moment was overwhelming him, and finally he looked to her and said. “What is your name, your full name my child?”

                “Amanda Panadero.” She told him. For the first time in what felt like ages she turned her head towards the crowd and they roared in approval.

               

The Divine Patriarch gestured for the crowd to quiet. “You cannot deny her!” one voice cried out before finally the crowd went silent.

“What we have seen today. This incredible act of selflessness and bravery by a young woman who risked her life to save me and so many others on this stage.” He paused as if overcome or unable to say what he needed to say. The crowd grew restless again with catcalls and shouts. Vincenzo spoke over them. “You all know what I say is the truth. This young lady, Amanda Panadero is the Ninth Incarnation of God on Earth. She is the Chosen!”

The crowd erupted in cheers and celebration. Her name echoed through the street as the people kept shouting. Amanda looked towards the heavens and hoped that Hector had been reborn and that she could meet him again someday and that he’d know that the example he’d set when he had given his life was what had turned his sister into God. The Divine Patriarch put his hand on her shoulder and she looked up towards him. “This is a troubled time, I fear the burden that will be placed upon you but I promise I shall do all I can to help.” He told her. The worry on his face troubled her greatly, but she turned away from him to look back at the cheering crowd and to let their cheer lift her spirits. She was God now and could afford to celebrate this day. The problems of Utopia and the world would have to wait for God to deal with them tomorrow. 

Stuff coming to the blog

I feel good that I was able to get myself to finish the Sasha The Assassin series cause the two ideas I had in my head for a long time finally got together and had a kid. Idea one was ten rings of power that were fought over for control of a kingdom and the other was a female assassin character murdering stuff she could murder and talking her way out of situations where murder wasn't an option. I don't know if/when Sasha will have further adventures but if I come up with another storyline for the character I'll put in work on it.

Now for the big project I've been working on for years on end. It's a novel I've bored many of my friends to tears about and it's art is my facebook banner. The story has the working title of "The War" and it is simply put about two nations going to war.

The elevator pitch of the novel would go something like "Game of Thrones with far fewer sides, better technology, no magic and only one dragon." And here is where I put in my plea for you to believe me that I was working on this long before I knew about the books and the show hadn't even existed yet. I know this puts me on the same shaky ground as the Hunger Games author who savaged Battle Royale but at the very least I don't think my characters/story are a take off of the books/show in any way.

So while I start to steal myself on the process of finally finishing the first draft of the first book of the series I figured I'd use this blog to write little slices of life of each of the main characters of The War before the war happened. The cast is rather large so I have a pretty big pool of characters to play with so at least once a week I'm going to try to sit down and hammer out about a thousand or so words about a day in the life of a character before the events that led up to the great conflict happened. This will be a way for blog readers to get to know these characters before I make the novel and it'll be a good exercise for me to help to get to better know the people I'll be having fight each other in a battle that will rock their nations to their foundations.

Thanks everyone who has given the blog a look see and I hope to give you some content to read and enjoy over the coming months.

Sasha The Assassin Part 9

Craggs came through the secret tunnels and appeared in the room with Mistress Green and Lord Brown. “The gem! Throw it here!” Mistress Green hissed. “Don’t you dare get any closer or I’ll kill you where you stand!” she shouted at Craggs. The sound of fighting nearby made everything far more urgent.

Craggs gave a hard stare to Mistress Green before finally throwing her the gem. “Quickly Lord Brown! The fighting closes in on us, our forces near defeat.” She told him as he placed fumbled with the gem for a few moments before finally placing it inside the slot on the face of the safe. The nine large rings he already had on his hands made the task far more difficult than it should have been.  Nothing happened for painful seconds as the three stared helplessly at the giant safe until finally gears started turning and the door slowly grinded open.

                Lord Brown walked towards the final ring. He could barely force his legs to move him the last few steps. He could not believe that finally after all these years it was finally going to happen, he was finally about to become King and restore his family to the throne they had been deposed from all those hundreds of years ago. Then he slipped the tenth ring on his right thumb and instantly was driven to his knees by ripping pain that ran through his whole body.

                Mistress Green also fell to her knees, a grimace on her face. She turned and smirked at the fallen Lord Brown. “You idiot. How we played you. How we’ve waited so long for this. Get up now, get up and show me your power, melt Craggs here to a puddle of smoldering flesh.” She turned and glared at Craggs with an evil glare.

                In the distance bells could be heard ringing signaling that midnight had arrived. Inside the room itself the clink of metal hitting stone could be heard. “She’s free. You’re fucked.” Lord Brown gasped as he lay prone on the ground.

                “What?” Mistress Green said and then suddenly a blade struck her hand and tore her fingers clean off.  In a quick motion Sasha grabbed the ring on one of the severed fingers and put it on her hand.

                “Shut up bitch.” Sasha said as she punched Mistress Green in the face. Sasha felt the pain of the ring pour through her body but she fought to control it. “Use the nullification ring on Craggs now. Get whatever junk is in his head to stop working.” Sasha snapped at Lord Brown who pointed his hand at Craggs and sent him into spasms. Craggs thrashed and buckled for a few moments, blood started to trickle from his eyes and nose and then finally he crumpled to the ground.

                Sasha wanted to run to him, to comfort him and see if he was still alive but the power of the ring she wore and the situation at hand required her to avoid getting anywhere near the giant man. “Craggs, lemme know if you’re OK. I’d hate for this to have killed you after all the work we’ve done.” She said to him from across the room. Outside the room the battle got closer, the door to the safe room was now being struck soon the King’s forces would be inside. “Craggs. Come on buddy, talk to me.”

                “I can feel it’s gone.” Craggs said, his voice raspy. “I’m. I’m free.” He said and then he slumped back down to the ground. Sasha could see his chest slowly rising and falling and knew he was still alive.

                “Sleep well my friend. It is for the best you don’t have a hand in what I am about to do.” Sasha said to him. A moment after she finished saying that the door to the room burst open and the King’s forced charged. “Kill them all” Sasha yelled and a giant burst of flame shot from Lord Brown’s hand. Men screamed as they were burnt alive. The smell of charred flesh filled the room and Sasha took deep breaths to prevent from puking. “Come on. We’ve got a king to kill.” She said as she walked from the room. Lord Brown followed behind her as if dragged by an unseen rope

                They walked up the stairs from the vault to the ground floor of the castle. Sasha let Lord Brown get in front of her, giving him a hard kick in the ass as he passed by. “All this work to behind the slave of a slave.”  He sneered.

                “First of all I’m free now, and second of all you could have doomed generations of your family to being puppets of the Green’s. You should be grateful this ends tonight with only your life.” Sasha said. More guards charged at them when she finished talking and more guards were reduced to charred skeletons.

                With a blast of energy Lord Brown blasted the doors to the throne room open. There stood twenty knights in front of the King and his eldest son. The King was old and sickly looking, his face drawn and lined with wrinkles. On the sides of the room were crossbowmen with their weapons at the ready. Sasha looked at the young man standing beside the King. “You’re the crown prince right? Eric is your name?”

                “Yes.” Eric replied. He glared at Sasha and Lord Brown with a fury in his eyes.

                “Well now you’re king, this sickly old fool is in no condition to lead the kingdom. Idiot left his crown unattended. That’s unforgivable.” When she finished speaking Lord Brown threw a bolt of energy at the King that ripped through his chest and killed him. Arrows from all directions flew at Sasha and Lord Brown but were deflected away by a giant shield that surrounded them. The knights charged them and were also unable to penetrate it. A few moments later after a volley of energy from Lord Brown’s rings the only three people alive in the room were Eric, Sasha and Lord Brown.

                Eric Champion stood at the side of throne gazing at all the dead men’s bodies strewn around him. “So what do you want me of Lord Brown?” he asked.

                “He’s just a puppet. I’m the one in control here.” Sasha said. To prove her point she drove Lord Brown to his knees in pain. “You need to understand what’s been happening and what has happened to your family. When your family took the throne from the Browns hundreds of years ago it wasn’t the plan. As a child my family always told me the Greens were on our side and the Browns were our enemies. The invasion my family launched upon your kingdom was massive. They far outnumbered your forces but the one thing your kingdom had in vast supply was magic users. The rings were not a plan to save the nation. They were a scam by the Greens to keep all the magic users away from the front lines, a way to keep them distracted until the war was over. Tragically for them your ancestors skills on the battlefield kept our armies at bay and the rings that were never meant to be finished were made and then they were given to your legendary ancestor and he used them to defeat the invasion and usurp the throne.”

                “Why would the Greens do this? What was their plan?” Eric asked.

                “They were to rule as the new leaders of the south after we’d conquered them. The Browns were to be purged such that anyone with a drop of their blood would be killed.  It didn’t work out for them so the Greens fell upon a plan B. They were the ones who designed the rings and worked with all the magic users in the crafting process. It was from this knowledge they figured out a way to craft another ring, a controlling ring. One of the Greens servants told me the rings were haunted. That led me to the truth. The Greens were using the rings to control you. Then finally one of your ancestors got tired of it and managed to find a way to drop dead in a public setting which allowed people to tear his body apart to try to get at the rings and thus they were lost. The Champions having ruled for generations at that point no longer needed the power of the rings to enforce their rule as the people had long accepted them as the rightful dynasty. Your bloodline was free of the Greens and their meddling.”

                “You killed my father, you slaughtered all my knights, why should I not kill you?” Eric asked her.

               

                “Cause I’m giving you the power right now.” Sasha said and with that she closed her eyes. Her body shook as Lord Brown began screaming and flailing. Blood began to trickle from Sasha’s nose as she kept on focusing till finally Lord Brown was dead. “That took a few years off my life.” She said as she removed the ring from her hand and threw it to Eric. “There. All the scheming of the Browns and the Greens down the drain. You have all the rings, do with them as you see fit, but know to wear the ten rings is to assure yourself an early grave.”

                Eric stared at the ring. “What happens now?” he asked.

                “I don’t know. The Greens and Browns may declare war. They may hide their intent in fear of the rings. You’re King in a dangerous world in a dangerous time. I wouldn’t want to be you.” Sasha told him and she walked away.

                “Where are you going?” Eric asked.

                “Anywhere. I’m free, that’s the point of being free right?” she told him.

POST SCRIPT

                That night Sasha walked into Arthur’s house. His eyes still had some blackness from his broken nose. “I survived and I’m free.” She told him as she walked towards him for a kiss. Arthur backed away from her. His rejection stung. “What’s wrong?” she asked him.

                “The fact that you nearly killed me one time, and broke my nose the other.” He told her.

                “Oh, you silly man, if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead.” She said it as sweetly as she could, but she could tell it didn’t really have the impact she wanted it to. “So you don’t want to have sex?” she asked in confusion.

                “Not really. It’s kind of been horrible both times.” Arthur told her.

                “So what do you want to do?” she asked him.

                “I don’t know. We could talk.” He said.

                “Talk?” Sasha puzzled over the term. “You know. I’ve never really talked to anyone besides you and a seven foot tall man who could turn his skin into stone.” She told him.

                “That guy sounds really impressive.” Arthur said.

                “Oh he was.” And Sasha began to tell Arthur the story of Craggs and that led to other stories and tales, and the two of them spent the night talking and laughing in each other’s company. 

Sasha The Assassin Part 8

                “I’m not going to kill you.” Lord Brown told Sasha as the army massed at the gathering point. “Oh I know Mistress Green wants me to once you've gotten us the jewel, but I trust you. I have faith in you my dear and more to the point I think you’ll be a helpful ally once I am king. Since you will no longer be a slave after tonight you’ll be paid quite well for your service.” He finished with a nod to her.

                Sasha nodded back to him. Her face was blank but the intensity in her red eyes was easy to see. The glamour of choice was red hair with white framing her face and a black stripe across her eyes with black tears running down her cheeks. Warriors of her nation painted such imagines on their faces when they knew they were going to die in battle. Lord Brown stared at her for another moment and then turned and nodded to the three men cloaked in blue at the head of the army.

                The men began chanting, their voices started off melodic and soothing but soon the noise became distorted and twisted, almost demonic sounding, until finally the very fabric of reality warped in front of them. Sasha had heard of the great portals that allowed people to travel thousands of miles in the blink of an eye but she’d never seen one in person. Now before her was a portal that thousands of men were charging through and on the other end was a two mile march to the castle of the king. The great battle had arrived.

                Sasha braced herself and ran through the portal. She did not follow the army on it’s march towards the castle, her place was elsewhere. She wondered for miles until she finally found the fetid stream that led into the sewers. The air was rank with waste as she made her way through the twisting tunnels until she finally came to the location Mistress Green had told her about. She was now under the castle itself.

A grappling hook got her to the ceiling of the tunnel and she was able to push aside the stone and get herself into the castle.  Once inside she quickly disguised herself as a knight of the king.  She made her way through the hallways of the castle and was amazed as she passed warding stone after warding stone yet not of them stripped her of her glamour or sounded an alarm. She shook her head as she wondered why the Greens would go to such trouble to overthrow a dynasty they were so well established with.

Sasha finally had found her way to the king’s private chambers. She drew Mercy from it’s sheath and took a breath. The door flew open as she kicked it and she rolled into the room only to find nobody there. Sasha quickly composed herself and then noticed the king’s crown resting on a desk near the bed. She looked the crown over carefully and saw that it was real gold and the gems were authentic. The centerpiece diamond took a little work to pry free but she finally managed to get it loose and she pocketed it.

She debated seeking out the king to murder him but then decided that she’d either be dead or free within the next two hours so she really didn't have much desire to engage a bunch of armored knights in an effort to kill the king when a rumor of the king’s death would do just as well. She walked towards the entry point she’d gained access to the castle from before and then waited. Finally she heard the footsteps of a patrol. With a quick jab of her dagger she drew blood from her forehead. She let the blood leak onto the crown and then she placed the crown on the ground in directly where the patrol would see it once they rounded the corner. Once the crown was placed she quickly escaped the castle and started her trek through the sewers to the meeting point.

The journey came to an end at the entranceway to the sewers where she was to meet up with the person that was to take the jewel to Lord Brown. When she got there she saw Craggs staring at her. “Really Craggs? You’re going to kill me?” Sasha said with more disappointment than anything else.

“They told me this would help to kill you.” Craggs told her in a cold, emotionless voice as he held a ball of light in his hands. The ball exploded and suddenly the whole tunnel was coated in bright light. Sasha knew of such weapons and what they would do to her. She had no means of escape and she had no way to hurt the giant that stood before her.

“I am at your mercy.” She told Craggs as she threw the diamond to him. She then took out her daggers and threw them to the side and then the sai right after that. “Do as your master demands and kill me.” Sasha told him.

“I have no choice in this. You know this Sasha. Slaves must do as their masters command. This is the way of the world.” Craggs replied to her as he pulled out his broadsword.

“What if I could make you free? What if I could make you no longer a slave?” Sasha asked him.

Craggs walked towards her, shaking his head as he moved. “Such a bold promise. I didn't hear you making such offers to me before your life was about to be ended.” He stood over her and waited for a moment.

“I hadn't figured it all out just then, but now I’m pretty sure I've got everything all mapped out. I know the truth. It’s up to you Craggs, we both know this ends with our masters obtaining an unstoppable power and being able to ruin the southern kingdoms with an iron fist. If they want to kill us after they do so it’ll take them but a thought to do so. I think I can stop them and I think I can make us both free in the process. What’s the difference if I live or die really?” Sasha asked him.

Craggs looked over her and pondered what she had said. He then put his broadsword back in it’s sheath. “You talk a big game. Let’s see if you can back it up.” He told her. Sasha grabbed her weapons and rearmed herself.

“You will be a free man come the morning. I promise you.” Sasha told him as they headed towards the vault.  

Sasha The Assassin Part 7

“You’re alive, he isn’t, and that is all that matters.” Craggs told her. He was Sasha’s new friend at Lord Brown’s estate which had become a military base instead of a residency of a high lord. Sasha walked with the giant of a man, she figured he was over seven feet tall and didn’t want to even hazard a guess at his weight. He was always shirtless, his body had weird pock marks and scars all over his bronze torso, tales of countless battles he’d fought in the past.

“But so much of it was luck, his sword breaking, that he couldn’t bite me in the neck because I’m wearing a slave collar.” Sasha said.

“If you think it would do justice to the situation I could kill you now.” Craggs told her. He playfully threw his arm into her and she’d learned how to take the hit without being knocked over, which wasn’t easy even with the lack of force he put into the blow. “Big as I am, powers I have, still doesn’t matter. I’ve had a few fights where an inch this way or that would decide if I lived or died. The inches went my way those times, maybe not next time.”

“Why do you serve as a slave? You’re so powerful. How can Mistress Green kill you? You can’t have a collar like me since you can turn your flesh into stone.” Sasha asked him.

“Device in my head, put there when I was a child, they say the magic word and my brain explodes.” Cragg told her.

Sasha sighed. “I wish we could just steal the rings and kill our masters. You know we’re not living through the night of the assault right? They’ll never let us get near all those rings once they finally have them.” Sasha said, the despair in her voice was clear.

Craggs gave a loud laugh in reply. “Oh silly girl. You know that if you have the rings they make you a slave all the same don’t you? Oh you might be powerful and fearsome but the rings control the one who wears them, drive them mad.”

“What do you mean? I’d never heard that before.” Sasha said. She was stunned by the statement.

“You know all the Champions who wore those rings died before they even made it to age fifty. They aged so fast, the rings ate their spirit. Also they said that after enough kings died wearing them that the rings became haunted, that the dead kings would talk to the new king and tell him what to do. It’s why King Franklin died in that crowd. He planned for himself to die and for the crowd to tear at his body to get at the rings. He knew the Champions had reigned long enough that they had the army and the people behind them, the rings didn’t matter anymore, and he didn’t want his son to be damned into wearing them.” Craggs said.

“I knew they had died young, but I’d never heard about the rings being haunted.” Sasha told him.

“Oh it’s what Mistress Green tells us all the time. It’s why she’s so willing to let Lord Brown wear them and become King, because she knows the Browns will have to bear the burden of the curse while the Greens can just marry into power.” Craggs said.

Sasha shook her head. She hated Mistress Green everything about her seemed so smug. She felt like there was even more to the story than Craggs knew but his information really felt like put some things into place for her.

“They want me.” Craggs said just as Sasha felt the razors in her collar poke her neck.

“They want us you mean.” She replied to him as they headed to the command center in Lord Brown’s estate.

They made it into what had been a parlor but was now the war room where Lord Brown poured over maps and pretended he was some sort of military expert when odds were he had no idea about anything at all. Today Mistress Green was looming over his shoulder as he stared intently at a map.

“Craggs, Sasha. You know that in a week we will be launching the assault on the castle and now has come the time for your missions.” Mistress Green smiled deviously as she continued to speak. “Craggs, you’ll kill everything in your path. You’re the distraction for Sasha.” She nodded at Craggs who nodded back to her. “And you my dear will assassinate King Derrick and steal the center jewel out of his crown.”

Sasha took the news as impassively as she could. She knew that assassinating the king would be next to impossible. He was guarded by wards and talismans that would prevent Sasha from ever taking him by surprise and his personal bodyguards were armored with enchanted steel plate that would be nigh impenetrable for her weapons.

“Do not worry Sasha. The king still thinks the Greens are on his side. He believes I am a double agent that has been working all this years only to betray Lord Brown in the final hour and to hand the rings back to the Champions. The Greens build that castle, we set up the wards, we know exactly how you can get at the king without anyone stopping you. The king’s death is not what matters most, but killing him will sow chaos and confusion into the ranks of our enemies. The jewel at the center of his crown is the key to the vault that houses the final ring. Once you have it, you’ll meet us at the rendezvous point for the final assault on the vault and the gathering of the tenth ring.”

Sasha nodded. She was terrified of the fact that she wasn’t being set up to fail when it came to the murdering of King Derrick. She was supremely confident that somehow someway the Greens had in fact set all of this up to allow her to pull off this assassination. As sure as she was of that, she was sure of the fact that she would be murdered the moment she handed over the jewel, never in a million years would they allow someone as deadly as Sasha to be that close to those cursed rings.

Sasha The Assassin Part 6

Three times the blades pressed into her neck. It was the distress sign Lord Brown had never used before in Sasha’s whole life but now she was feeling it. She remembered him joking that if he ever needed to use the call that she might well decide to run the other way since the threat might be not worth dealing with. Sasha recalled his grim words and armed herself and ran to her horse. Lord Brown must be saved since if he died whoever killed him would almost assuredly find the device that controls her collar and could kill her with the press of a button.

                As she came upon his estate she saw dead bodies on the grounds, servants having been butchered with their bowels ripped out. Whatever person or persons were involved in this attack they sure were not being subtle about what they were doing. Sasha entered the back door of the building and saw Pablo’s dead body sprawled on the carpet she grimaced as his lightless eyes staring at her as she walked into the room.

                Down the hallway there were yet more dead bodies, throats slashed, torso’s run through, everything was professional and effective, she knew those behind this assault knew what they were doing. “Sasha? Are you here yet my dear?” a man’s voice called out in the distance. Sasha drew her sai and braced herself for combat.

                “You’re why I’m here Sasha.” The voice continued. “Lord Brown is the only man left alive, and he’s alive only because I fear that if I killed him it would have trigged something in your slave collar to kill you. I took the contract to finally meet you, to finally kill you.” The voice finished. Sasha felt the man shadow step and turned to where he’d appear. He popped from the shadows some ten feet away from her.

                “I was supposed to wear that collar you know.” The man said with a smile. He was pale like Sasha with light blonde hair and green eyes, she didn’t know if his features were a glamour or not. “You don’t remember me do you? You don’t recall big brother Benjamin do you?” he asked her. Sasha backed up a step at the sound of the name. “Yes Sasha. I’m your beloved brother.” He said with an acid tone. “Well not really, because I was supposed to be Lord Brown’s slave. Mommy and Daddy thought he’d want a big strong boy to be his slave and when they had me they were so happy since they knew they had paid our debt to the Browns. They never loved me or cared for me, when Jenna arrived a few years later she got all the love and attention, and you, you were the most beloved of all.”

                Sasha couldn’t believe the man’s story, but she knew from her study of people that at the very least he believed every word he said. “When Lord Brown took you it broke mother. She wailed for weeks on end, she went from not loving me to hating me. It was my fault I wasn’t good enough to be Lord Brown’s slave, it was my fault her beloved Sasha was taken from her. Then I heard the tales of the assassin’s school and how that’s what Lord Brown wanted. So I ran away from home and I found a group of assassins and I had them train me, teach me their arts, till finally I could meet the little bitch that ruined my life and kill her.”

                As he said it he charged at her, in his hands were two short swords. Sasha parried his swings with her sai and looked for openings to counter attack. Benjamin’s speed was impressive and he kept her on the defensive. Sasha shadow stepped and he was right upon her again continuing to hack away at her and forcing her to defend herself.

                “You’re over-rated” he sneered. “This is going to be easier than I thought.” Right as he finished his boast Sasha managed to leg sweep him and sent him crashing to his back. Sasha brought her sai down in a stabbing motion and Benjamin barely rolled out of the way. “Good one sister.” He smirked and then he threw a dagger at her. Sasha side stepped it and the next one. She felt him shadowstepping behind her and jumped away from the spot, when she reappeared a knife was flying at her head and she barely had time to react and deflect it away from her face.

                “Slow, to slow.” He said, he charged at her again the two exchanging thrusts and parries as they battled in the darkness. Sasha ducked under a swing at her head and lunged at him with a stab at his chest but found the blow deflected harmlessly away. “Haven’t fought an assassin have you?” he asked. “All I’ve been doing is fighting people like you, knowing their moves, understanding what they can do, how they’ll react. I’m sorry to say sister but you’re pretty disappointing.” He finished.

                Sasha didn’t reply but she knew that she’d never fought anyone who could have even threatened her before this fight. Her whole life had been killing easy targets or merely the threat of her black cloak was enough to prevent anyone was giving her trouble. Now she was in a fight to the death and she had no idea if she was going to survive it.

                Benjamin brought both his swords down upon her sai and began to try to push her arms down. Sasha decided now was the time to see if the deep earth iron was just a sales pitch or not. She twisted her wrists and started driving the guards of her sai into the sides of the swords. “Really? Trying to break my swords with your gardening tools?” Benjamin scoffed. “The Champions paid top dollar for these blades, steel refolded countless times to the point where it’s indestructible. Your silly little weapons will shatter like glass.”

                Right as he finished the word glass the sword in his right hand snapped clean in two. Benjamin stumbled forward and Sasha reacted just in time to drive her sai into his stomach. She felt the blade dig into his body and he fell into her, his head resting on her shoulder. At that instant she felt his teeth trying to find purchase in her neck but her slave collar prevented him from being able to doing any damage. She stepped away from him and in a swift motion brought the sai out of his belly and into the bottom of his jaw, through the roof of his mouth and into his brain.

                As his eyes started to glass over she smirked at him. “I guess there’s a reason mother loved me most.” She said as she pulled the blade out and watched him fall. Right after he hit the ground she drove the sai through his heart to make certain of his death. “Lord Brown!” she shouted. “It’s over, I’ve killed the assassin the king sent for you.” And then she felt the blade of her collar hitting her neck, four times it grazed her flesh.

                “How many times did I trigger the blade?” Lord Brown asked nervously.

                “Four.” Sasha replied. She knew lying could have meant her death given the panic her master was in.

                Lord Brown rushed from his chambers. “Sasha! You saved me. I can not thank you enough. This is open war the king has declared on us. All my servants and staff are dead, thank the Gods my children were not here. Armies must be gathered. I must contact the Green’s at once about this. The day of reckoning is coming soon Sasha, you must stay with me till it arrives. We will defeat them Sasha. They will pay.” He said with his voice regaining it’s confidence as he spoke. Sasha looked down at her dead brother a man who spent his whole life obsessed with killing her and now having failed. She looked at Lord Brown and thought of his obsession and how she was positive he was to fail also. The big difference was Lord Brown’s failure was going to get her killed.