No One

Chapter Six

It did not take her long for her to realise that she was in a mess, without him she was fresh meat, to be jumped on, having gems and food stolen, no place to rest her head, no energy in the morning to complete the morning's work, yet around him, she was intrigued and that frightened her. She had never been interested in too many people before, often people led the same boring lives with little to nothing to offer in exchange, but she was beyond curious about a man who like her, chose to nameless, a man she rarely saw in the light, yet often appeared in the shadows. She did not question it in fear of losing an ally she could not afford to lose, now two weeks into her brutal sentence. She could not lose her mind, her sanity although thinking about what she had seen, the man and the guard, she was convinced she already had, that it was long gone.

All she wanted was her freedom, to taste something more than the salty sweat or the disgusting taste of blood as she bit her lip, waiting in line to see if she had done a good enough job the night before, to prevent the sting of the whip on her back and shoulder. With every lashing she thought about her list of names, the many people she was going to put an end to for their crimes against her and her family. She was going to kill them all, there was no amount of money she would accept to prolong their lives nor offer mercy, she would offer for they showed none that night, when they slaughtered her entire family and ransacked their home. 

Her freedom was close or at least that was what she told herself every night and day in that place, in the tiny mine that barely fit three rakes of people, that probably held close to nothing on the surface, having been mined so much. There were other places she could have gone, other tunnels filled with people and guards, to prevent a lashing or a beating, she never frequented them, but that was just so she could give herself a brief minute to breathe, so she could count down the days until her release, hoping beyond hope that she would taste her freedom in the end. 

She took a quick break, just a few seconds to herself but as footsteps graced the mine, she picked up her pickaxe, swinging it hard at the rock, hoping to break as much away as possible, hoping she would not be dragged out, face the whip again. In such a place, everyone ratted one another out, hoping them breaking silence was enough to avoid the whip. Often it was, mission accomplished but sometimes it took more than that, much more, if the guards were feeling particularly cruel, if they had not been given permission to ransack a home or two, to tear a family apart or to rip at a woman's dress. Without permissions nothing was allowed to happen but apparently, to keep his army happy, the king gave them permission to do what they wished for the entire day, within that day they could kill anyone on the king's list, ransack their home or whatever else pleased their disgusting, soiled mind. 

Nothing pleased her more than the idea of killing them, the monsters that hurt her family and the hand that guided them, but good things came to those who waited and the years gave her time to plot and plan to make their deaths as cruel as her family's deaths were, the main differences would be the method of execution, the hand that guided such an execution and the innocence of those who would die by her hand for they were no innocent, their blades were undoubtedly soiled with blood from the kills they had made, leaving not even one of her family alive but instead killed all who were in that house alone, left to scream and beg for any mercy and gods that never came to their aid. 

The footsteps continued, light and soft on the ground, not like the guards who relied on heavy feet and heavier footsteps she could hear coming for miles. She just mined in the near darkness, illuminated by the little light and a small candle in the corner. The footsteps came to an abrupt halt close to her, but she did not look, in case she was somehow wrong. "You carry so much hate, for one so young", a voice commented as it echoed through the mine. She instantly recognised it as the man, the dangerous man yet daringly she offered it no response. "Are you not going to converse with me now?", he asked with a sliver of laughter in his voice.

"We have nothing to say," she replied with a cold glare, she was tired of the game he was playing, the sick game of cat and mouse, she was ready to get rid of every guard but had to wait for the right moment to come, because locked up like an animal, they would know it was her and she would not manage to kill every guard before they murdered her.

"Why not?".

"You rarely say anything, not even your name. "What do you want?", she asked demandingly.

"Nor you but I still consider you a friend of mine, besides I have some news that may benefit you as well as I. The time has come for me to leave, I was wondering if you would join me."

"You can just step out of here, like nothing happened?", she asked naively.

"No but I know ways out. If you wish to be free of your sentence, you will come with me."

"When?", she asked.

"I will find you," he promised with his famous smile.

Once again, she wondered whether or not she could trust him. Was he like them, a guard? Was that why he was not executed? Because he was once a guard? But that put him on her list of people, if they still considered him a guard, that meant he had been a killer, just like they were, that meant he was guilty, just like they were. She offered up nothing, not a comment or an answer but he looked as if he did not even expect one. She went to ask him for his name, anything she could call him but when she turned to face him, he was long gone and only his gentle footsteps could be heard.