The Assassin

Chapter 1

The Assassin||Nathan pereira
Chapter 1

    "I certainly Wasn't born to the life of a nun. But the aftermath was the best thing that happened to me."

  My head was hurting and I was slowly falling sick day by day, my Grand daughter   Shuya-Chang was on her way from Peking . She just turned fifteen and it was time I told her the story of my life, she needed to know that it is hard for women in every walk of life, socially,Mentally, physically.

  The physician was on his way home as I wasn't keeping well. My husband was a bit younger than me , he still had the nerve for martial arts, I lost mine as I was poisoned in a fight, many of my muscles functioned poorly ever since.  It was  the year 1289 and I knew my days were passing and being numbered.  It wasn't easy for me to live a life of an assassin, the life of an assassin was similar to that of a woman, sleeping with one eye open. And being aware of your surroundings.

  Since I had pneumonia a few days ago I was advised to light peppermint incense sticks in my room, the days were rainy. I could here the couple fighting in the neighbouring house, and often laughed at the stupid fights they had and the amount of vessels and ceramics she broke in anger. Speaking of ceramics, Mrs. Pei who live a few blocks away always boasted about the quality of her ceramics and said how lonely she was, as her children and grand children rarely visited her, she hated loneliness. I feel loneliness is good, sitting with a cup of tea, alone and looking at the sunset helps in self motivation.

  The sight from the Wudang  mountain was a sight one should never miss. The beauty of nature is such that even staying still for eternity is a priceless experience.  No one in this world had such an experience as I did.  I lived in a luxurious house with a garden of Cherry blossoms, servants, plush silk hanfus in my closet and ornaments to die for. Since we contributed a lot to the Wudang monastery and temples, the Taoist and Buddhist high priests gifted us such luxuries.

   I remember the days Of me in the catholic monastery back in Burgundy (Roman Empire, present Day France) . I was the head nun who held the crown during the coronation of King Otto IV When he was crowned the holy roman emperor. Women were such slaves then, especially the clergy, and spending the entire day with the black veil ,the bible in the hand and rosary around the neck was not easy at all. But when I converted my self to Tibetan Buddhism, all I gained was freedom. I can't meditate properly as my muscles were weak, I saw the physician walking into the residence as I told the servant to open the door and prepare the special tea from Hainan.

"Ni hao, Mrs Exiao-lien." He greeted

"Ni hao, physician Lo"

I put forth my arm for him to check it. He sighed. I got tensed

"You muscles have been damaged by the poison."

"And my legs?" I ask

"It's the same. Damaged." Silence and sorrow took place in the room as I broke it with thanking him and offered him tea.

"Continue with the same herbs and the lavender oil, I will pray for your health" he said.

"I will ,physician Lo. Thank you for your support at all times."

"No problem, Mrs. Exiao-lien" he smiled and walked out of the room. I limp towards my dressing table and open a draw, the draw which contained a box and the box contained the rosary and notebook. I still remember German, very little French and I Latin. I still remember the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary . I remember the time I met pope Innocent II before the Coronation of King Otto IV. a different kind of pope altogether,he was the more hungry over power kind of pope.
There where many rebellions during his reign. The day was ending, my husband was back from the lotus temple.

  He usually went there for meditation and bought me lotus and papaya extract for my hair. He knew I loved it. Tomorrow was his 115th birthday and I was one year older to him. He did all my work, since I was slow due to my muscles. He still was fit to do cart wheels and back flips and was strong enough to fight a gang of thirty men.

I looked in the mirror as he entered the room. He smiled,walked over and kissed me on the cheek, I smiled and sat down on the bed. He brought the tea table and placed it in front of me, as the servant placed the food on the table. He picked up the chopsticks and started feeding me, how lucky was I to have a husband like this. He was always by my side, he also was good at back massages. As he put the dumpling in the mouth, the scar below his jawline was visible.

The scar I had made.

Something I could not forgive myself for.
As I was born in The Roman Empire, to Germanic parents, I looked extremely European. And every one else looked oriental (small eyes). I learnt mandarin as soon as I  began my Wudang martial arts lessons. My life as an assassin was hard but I loved it. My master was an Exiled assassin, Tai-jin and so was his wife  Noor. Master Tai-Jin was exiled from the Song Dynasty and lived in the rising mongol empire next to the Gobi Desert. His wife was a Muslim Mongolian girl and he was a Buddhist, but love has no religion, after all.I finished eating and went for a bath, the bath salts really refresh your mind and body, I never liked fires, it reminded me of a terrible time during my days at the monastery.

  I finished having a bath, I put on my night han fu and say in the balcony and gazed at the moon. I never failed to recognise Mary holding Jesus  in her hand, but I lost faith in Catholicism as Buddhism was my current path. My husband was tired  so he went to sleep, I removed the lotus sutra and started chanting the mantras with the holy beeds  praying for a safe journey for my son, his wife and daughter to reach the Wudang mountain safely.

   The wind blew and one incense stick fell, as I bend to pick it up I fell flat on the ground, I tried to get up but my legs weren't co-operating, I called for help and the servants and my husband came running and helped me get up and placed me on the bed. I knew now, that I would never walk again, and my days are being counted. I knew that this was the perfect time to tell my grand daughter the story of my life.

**********Authors Note**************

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