Running From fate

Chapter 4

"When you said move out of the city where we wouldn't be seen, I didn't think you meant to move into the sewers" Complained Keithan with a bored tone.

"Well, I didn't necessarily say we would be staying here, just remember the schedule of flushing the sewers or else we'll all be dead before the games even begin." Zenobia explained patiently, to which both Shoftiel and Keithan sighed. "Anyways," She continued "this is our first day, today I'll be reaching out to old allies or enemies who are in debt to me, and soon, we'll have ourselves a decently sized and trained army to hold against the government."

"Is an army really necessary?" Shoftiel whined "Like, armies mean death and war and all that bad stuff."

"Shoftiel, we went over this yesterday. We can't change the people who run the government, but we can exchange them for new people who will run it bett-..." Zenobia drifted off, remembering her full and true past. Keithan instantly picked up on her change in mood and began to interrogate her.

"There's something you've still hidden form us, isn't there? God Zenobia, when are the secrets going to stop? Will they ever stop? Or will you just tell us everything whenever you deem it fit for your closest friends and best allies to know your plans?"

"Hey. That's enough Keithan. I get it, neither of you know if you can trust me because of everything that was previously hidden and is still currently being hidden from the both of you. But have you ever wondered that while I'm lying to you, I'm simultaneously lying to myself? Have you ever thought that maybe just an inkling of me feels guilty for what I've done? Maybe that I want to forget my own past and move on? That I want another chance at being the best I can be? That maybe this whole grand plan to overthrow the government is what I feel to be my last chance to prove how I can actually be a good person?" Zenobia felt the tremor in her voice and shut her mouth before she allowed such a noise to escape it. Fortunately, what she said was enough to not only shut both Keithan and Shoftiel up, but also send them on some last minute mission to go buy more blankets.

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When Keithan and Shoftiel finally returned, actually having bought more blankets, Zenobia apologized for going off on Keithan earlier that day. He said he should have been the one apologizing and they both knew that was just him being his modest self. Other than that, Zenobia had spent her day writing many letter and pleads for people of her past to join her cause. It appeared, than in order to erase her past, she must fully face it first. When it came down to what her biggest fear was, her past definitely took that number one spot. She knew it wasn't her fault, she was practically born an assassin and her power was taken advantage of her at a young age, but she chose to stay, she chose to kill, she chose to take the lives of innocents. A mistake she swore to herself she would never make again, no matter the cost. A war was to be avoided, but she knew that as soona s the government heard of her plan, all hell would break loose. Let's just hope word doesn't get out too soon. May the gods at least give them some time to form a steady foundation too work from. Zenobia was never one to look up to the gods, nothing good ever came from them, but this time, just this once, she would put a little faith into them. For she knew, even the greatest assassin to ever exist had little to no chance of surviving this mission. She was ready to face her own death if it meant she could at least go down swinging for a better world. Knowing this, and knowing how long it had been since she had a real fight, Zenobia stood up, grabbed her sword, and went out to train. She knew she didn't want to hurt anyone, and she wouldn't. She'd simply go out to her old favorite training spot when she wanted a challenge, and stay there all night Or, until she could walk no more. She knew how to get to the precise location from anywhere in the city. Around a few corners, down some stairs, up even more, through a couple of alleys, and there she was. Always having hated the reek of blood and often times dead bodies, it made these rings the second most unbearable place Zenobia's ever been. Nonetheless, as soon as a spot opened up she hopped right in. He opponent, to start out with was fairly crawny, definitely didn't belong in a place like this and would likely be dead by the end of the night. She'd make sure to take her time with the fight just for that reason. It was never hard to scope out who would make it and who wouldn't, but she wanted to at least give him some fighting experience before the fight that would end his life. For all anyone knew it was the fight directly after his one with her. A shame, so she let him land a few blows, come close with another few, and ended it as painlessly as she could with a quick sweep of his legs, keeping him pinned for the three mandatory seconds. Come to think of it, these rings reminded her a lot of wrestling, except that weapons were often allowed and the fight could easily carry on to the death.

"A nice warm up, I'll admit." Zenobia said, smiling as she extended her hand to the poor man.

"Warm up? I'm nearly d-.." The look Zenobia shot the man told him enough of where he was and how lucky he was to have survived the fight.

"THE QUEEN IS BACK!!" Hearing the words, and from so close by it only took a second for her to know they were talking about her. Shit. She should have known she couldn't go unnoticed in a place where she used to spend so much of her time. It wasn't these people she was afraid of, in fact, a small sense of pride shot through her at the words. But word always spreads fast, meaning she'd maybe get a few hours down here max before palace guards or maybe even military can sniffing about. Never was a pretty sight when they came here, but this time they wouldn't just be looking to shut down the fights, but to shut down her.

"Q-queen?" Asked the scrawny little man she had just fought. Zenobia decided to sketch a little bow.

"Zenobia Adamaris, the best assassin to have ever lived. At your service." Perhaps the words were the wrong ones to say though as the man feinted right at her feet. Looking around quickly she knew she was already out of time. One of the palace guards must've been around to hear that guy shout. Thanks to being able to think quickly Zenobia scooped up the man and ran as quickly as she could back to the base with Keithan and Shoftiel. Though no one wound up on her trail, she didn't want to risk any of her "fans" to follow her either as it might have drawn attention. Laying the man on a small blanket, but large enough to cover all the space he needed, Zenobia went back to writing letters to those of her past.