The Assassin's Tale: Syndicate

2 - Trouble in paradise... Well, London but whatever.

She had arrived back at the keep. Staring up at the old building; it had once been a brothel, the man who used to own it sold the girls as slaves or had them killed. She didn't know which was worse. The gutters were half hanging off, the grey tiled roof edges and the walls were covered by vines, a perfect cover for assassin's.

She entered the building through the front door and was greeted by the guard. He was a foot taller than she was, although she was pretty tall for her age, he still seemed to be taller. His broad shoulders covered by armor, he was all muscles like all of the assassin's in the keep were. He had bright blue eyes and hair so golden; he was handsome but she would never see him as more than a fellow assassin.

Strolling past him with, nothing other than a glance and a nod of the head, she went up the stairs and entered the study on the left.

Lee was seated behind his mahogany desk, it was littered with papers and a cup of tea was sitting up on stack of papers. He seemed deeply engrossed in what he was doing, but Sarah didn't have time and, after all she was his niece she could have some priority over his work.

Taking a seat across from Lee, she swung her legs up onto the desk upsetting the stack, that of which the tea rested upon. It began to topple but Lee grabbed the tea and she held the stack with her foot;

"Good afternoon, Uncle," a grin spread across her face but her Uncle didn't seem to be in the mood.

"Good Afternoon, Sarah, seems that you are back early from your mission." He said taking a sip from his tea.

"Well it would have been longer if I had been able to collect the documents and do some scouting. It seems that someone else had the same idea. I chased the thief all the way to the train station in Paddington, but don't worry the police have no idea where I went." Sarah still had no clue who it might have been. A rogue assassin might make more sense, stealing Templar information would help them but maybe...

"I know that look, and yes I had the same thought." Lee was staring at her, his blue eyes piercing into her.

"But why would the Assassins send someone else to do the work? We give them the information we collect about Templars, they even hired me to get those documents!" Sarah had gotten up and was now pacing around the room.  What had gotten into them? It all made perfect sense that it was the Assassins. Maybe they were still hung up on the fact that Lee had wanted to operate with the public as well as the assassins.

5 years ago, when she was 12, her uncle had the decision to approach the council and ask to set up a separate headquarters where he would provide services to take people out or retrieve information for the public. The council had not been so keen on the idea but after a few assassins had gotten on-board with the idea they agreed, on the condition that they could still use anyone and the information gathered. As he was her Uncle, she went with him and ever since that has been the way.

" Well, there is something I did need to talk to you about." Lee set down his tea and wandered over to the window, staring at the busy street below.

"What is it Uncle?" She asked joining him at the window.

"Whilst you were out I received a letter from the council, stating that we were to stop operating under them and, either we could transfer back to them or become rogue." He released a heavy sigh, like a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"What! Are you serious?" How dare they? She was furious with the Assassin's, she had looked up to some of the best trained assassins.

"I am Sarah, and I think you should think about your decision. 2 have already left us and returned back to them, and 1 decided to become rogue, he is headed for Paris but I doubt he'll get far." He moved from the window to a large leather couch that was situated in the corner of the room, you could see Big Ben if you sat right in the middle of the chair.

Sarah had started to pace around the room, trying to calm the wave of emotions that was crashing over her. Anger, sadness and some relief.

"Why now though? It seems too sudden to be real; and such convenient timing too." Sarah had been very close to taking down the Templars and retrieving the documents that would take down some of the most important Templars. She had to find out what in the world was going on.

"Am I to assume you don't want to join them again?" her uncle asked, looking out the window, his face unreadable.

Of course she didn't want to join them, ever since her and Lee had separated the Assassin's had become even stricter and to go back and to live under their rules again was essentially suicide for her. This was her choice and so what if they hunted her down? She was one of the best assassin's that London has ever seen, she could outrun some old men and women who thought they could manipulate her.

Sarah turned on her heel and promptly left the room, without a word or even a glance at her uncle. She turned right and went straight to her room at the end of the hall. Gathering up some money, a photo of her and all the others from the keep, and her favourite jacket she exited the room and was about to embark on the biggest journey of her life.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs she was greeted with the face of Lee. God, he moved quickly.

"You can't just leave without saying goodbye to your Uncle." His face was hard, but welcoming. She gave a hug, smelling, for what may be the last time, his signature old man and hint of lavender.

"What are you going to do, Lee?" She asked.

"I will return to the Assassin's. I am too old to outrun them, unlike you," a smile tugged at her lips " I will carry out my life there, but let me know you are safe, wherever you end up."

She pulled away already feeling the tears welling up in her eyes. She self-consciously rubs under eyes and played with the ends of the braid that was falling over her shoulder.

"I love you, Lee." She didn't wait for a response. She did not make eye contact with the guard at door. All Sarah did was walk down the road in search of an Inn. She did not look back to the Keep. She repeated the same message over and over in her head.

You are an assassin and always remind people that you are. Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent, hide in plain sight and now, just don't compromise your position to the brotherhood.

Hey!!! I am so happy that people are reading this, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I know that I don't update on a schedule but once I really get into the swing of things I will start to make a schedule. I would really appreciate your comments, especially constructive criticism (thx English teacher for telling me what that was!). I hope you all enjoy the story, comment and star it!! see ya next time. xo