Robert felt the icy cold and impossibly sharp steel sit idly at his neck, the sharpened edge of the dagger slightly digging into his neck. He looked down at the woman sitting below him, the one pressing the blade to his throat.
She was around his age, maybe a couple of inches shorter than he was, with long chocolate brown hair like his and her eyes were a greenish brown, like a mix of earth and plant life…However her face was twisted into a scowl and her eyes were filled with pure unadulterated rage.
"Now Ma'am I mean you no har-."
"Who are you? Why are you following me?" she snapped aggressively, her tone laced with more venom than a snakes fangs.
Robert wanted to explain first that he had no intention of hurting her and that he only wanted answers but that evidently was anathema to what the girl wanted, the blade dug in slightly deeper as she screamed at him in a voice filled with more rage and frustration it'd put a Viking to shame,
"Answer the bloody question before you'll be physically unable to!"
"Look, I wanted to ask you why you took that necklace from the market stall."
Upon answering the question, the girl's furious greenish brown eyes narrowed with silent fury, yet she removed the blade from his neck anyhow, yet an annoyed scowl was still spread across her face,
"There were a dozen other necklaces in that damned stand and yet you choose mine?"
"Your necklace?"
'Yes, MY necklace, not yours, not anyone's mine!" she snapped, her tone sharper than the dagger that had previously been pressed against his throat, as much as he would like to scold the girl for being unnecessarily aggressive towards him, he couldn't exactly blame her.
"How is the necklace yours, did it belong to a family member?" he asked in a voice that showed he was trying to be friendly.
"It belonged to my family and that's all you need to know, it's none of your business anyway…" she spoke, yet there was a shift of emotion behind those eyes, almost as if they were hiding pain…
It was weird, like there was something she didn't want him to know, he swallowed lightly, knowing the next question could either end really well or really badly,
"Well ummmm, why are you out here? Don't you have anyone to be with or anywhere to go?"
Those eyes flickered with that same shifting tone, from hardened and cold to pained and sorrowful, however the shift was very brief as she stated coldly,
"I don't need anyone else, I can look after myself and that's enough."
Robert could see the repressed pain in her eyes and he responded to her claim with four plain but very true words,
"You're lying, aren't you?"
Her face hardened for just a split second before a glum expression overshadowed her face and she looked down, her face hidden under shadow. No words were spoken yet he knew that she had given away the fact that she was not ok, despite her hardened demeanour.
"Hey…Are you ok?"
"It's not fair…" She whispered in a voice that seemed filled to the brim with years worth of pent up misery, anger and frustration that was beginning to bubble up to the surface.
"What's not fair?" he asked, sympathy lacing his voice.
"It's not fair how some people get to know what a happy family is like! It's unfair that some people get to grow up choosing who they want to be! It's not fair that…That I'm all alone…" she whimpered, burying her face into her hands.
Robert felt a wave of overwhelming sympathy and sadness for the girl, she had evidently never had a happy life, a good home or anyone to really talk to, but as to the cause of this misery he needed to know,
"What exactly happened to you Miss? Oh and I'm Robert by the way, Robert Boland." He said, trying to come across as friendly to the girl.
She looked up at him briefly before hanging her head down in what he could presume to be shame once more.
"Rose Arden…I'm from…well…was from a very wealthy family in Tewkesbury…My parents used to be Viscounts living near here…However my parents died under mysterious circumstances when I was only two, and I had nobody else left to take care of me…So I was sent to some orphanage ran by some horrible nuns and noblewomen up in Worcester. I…Hated it there…" she spoke, a shiver of disgust running up her spine as she spoke about her experiences.
"Day in and day out…I had to constantly be taught embroidery, sewing and running a household…Being told that I was only supposed to bring a boy into the world and whenever I would speak out…Or try to run away…They'd just beat me and lock me in the cellar with the rats…Eventually I managed to sneak out one night when I was around…14 or 15? I can't remember exactly, but I've been relying on myself ever since…This necklace is the only thing I have left of my parents other than blurry memories…"
Robert was stunned to silence, this girl…No older than he was, had gone through so much all the while he was thinking of how unfair it was that he was swinging a sickle around in the mud…It was shocking…Absolutely shocking and he stuttered out.
"Oh…I'm so sorry Rose…I…I didn't know…"
"Don't be…I should be ok now…I think, it still hurts but the pain fades after a while…I was alone before and I'm likely gonna be alone again."
A light bulb went off in Robert's brain, he knew how talented she was as a thief and how agile she was…Perhaps…No…It would never work…But perhaps it would be worth a shot…
"Say…Rose, my uncle knows this group…And I know they're recruiting at the moment, finding that necklace was my initiation…So I was thinking maybe you'd like to ummm…Join them with me? I could always use a friend these days and so could you."
The girl gave him a look that seemed to be a mix of either curiosity and amusement or joy and happiness. He felt himself wince slightly before mumbling out in a rather dejected tone.
"But you don't have to if you don't want to I mean…You seem pretty comfortable being by yourself and you could probably get used to it so I'm sorry for as-."
"I'll go." She said, her tone in a surprisingly happy sounding manner.
He was dumbstruck, he wasn't expecting this, she wanted to go? I mean yes she had lived a hard life but she was really willing to go back with him? However, it was best not to think of it now, he…They needed to get back.
"Alright…Well it's nice that you want to come, where we're supposed to go is Perlshaw, 7 miles away from here, we should be back by dawn, what with my horse not having enough room for two."
Rose smiled slightly, replying in a slightly more light-hearted tone,
"Well that's good, I wasn't exactly as willing to travel to London or York just to see whether or not I fancy joining this spooky underground organisation of yours. How do you even know who they are?" she asked, curiosity lacing her tone.
"Well…it turns out a family member of mine, my Uncle was a member of the group for years before I was born and supposedly my father was as well. All of this without my knowing too…I don't know too much about them myself."
"Hmmm…Well are you sure about joining them then? I mean it's dubious that they sent you after my necklace, I don't know what other tomfoolery they could get up too without us knowing."
Robert chuckled slightly, he was beginning to like this girl. He hadn't really had many friends in Perlshaw what with it's miniscule population, so he was looking forward to having a new friend to talk to in the Assassins.
…
The torches flickered…Like miniature stars glowing in a sea of ebony black darkness shrouding all that wasn't covered by the warmth and light of the slowly waning fire, dust coated cobwebs where generations of spiders had lived were brushed away in mere seconds bringing doom to the poor arachnids growing civilisation but bringing visibility to Robert and Rose as they walked down the narrow corridor to the small meeting chamber where he had previously met the Yorkist giant and the shrouded Lancastrian.
"Are you sure this is the way? It's filthy down here and swarming with spiders, I bloody hate spiders!" Rose whisper-shouted as she pulled a strand of old cobweb from her arm.
Her clothes were practically coated with the ancient and sticky threads. A couple of in all likelihood fossilised spiders dangling from her hair which she desperately tried to remove.
"Yes, this is the way that my uncle took me. Now quit your complaining, we're almost there and they're only cobwebs, you can dust yourself off later." He responded with sarcasm, brushing more and more of the thick substance away.
"Well sorry for not having short hair and not hating arachnids! It's quite hard to keep cobwebs out of your hair when you're-oof!" she grunted as she hit her head against the back of his.
"What was that for? Why have you stopped?" she growled in frustration but she was met only with a noise of a hand knocking on a surely ancient wooden door and his voice calling.
"Uncle Percy? I'm back and I have someone with me!" he turned to face her, a playful smirk spread across his face as he said.
"We're here Rose. So you can stop your flapping those lips of yours, also could I borrow your necklace quickly?"
"Absolutely not! It's mine and I'm not letting some boy who I don't even know that well touch it, go fu-."
"Ah you're back Robert and someone else I see? Percy Boland, pleased to meet you." The rich, jolly voice of Robert's uncle sounded and Rose was unable to finish her profanity filled sentence before feeling her hand be grasped in a very tight, almost bone crushing grip and shaken.
"Rose Arden…Pleased to meet you too…" she squeaked, causing a small laugh to erupt from Robert however it was swiftly silenced when she shot him a rather intimidating death glare that would in all likelihood intimidate even the bravest knights.
He pursed his lips milliseconds after being shot such a death stare, however that was not the focus…As Percy looked down to investigate a shimmering, twinkle that shone like a star on the girl's chest he looked up at her and smiled warmly.
"Ah I see you two found the amulet together I presume?"
"What? No we did-yes we did uncle! It was hard though." Robert cut off Rose mid sentence before glancing nervously towards her, she gave him a scowl and mouthed a rather unpleasant series of profanities towards him, the sight of such making the boy gulp.
"Well at least it's sorted, that's the important thing. JOHN! THOMAS! THE BOY DID IT, AND A GIRL HELPED TOO!" he bellowed bombastically.
"Stop bellowing Percy! Let the boy and his helper inside, they've accomplished the task, all we need to do now is see whether or not they're ready for initiation." The voice of the Lancastrian spoke firmly.
Percy smiled down warmly at the two before ushering them inside, his large arms preventing any kind of escape, the two were met by the giant Yorkist with his lion like mane of blonde hair and the veiled Lancastrian. The presence of both the former and the latter's eyes on Rose's necklace sending butterflies running rampant in her stomach.
"Hmm…Well the girl seems to have the real thing…Do you mind if we?"
"No, although I will want it back…It's a family heirloom of mine." Upon the words "Family heirloom" a haunted look appeared in Percy's eyes just for a split second and he coughed slightly.
"Family heirloom? What…What exactly was your last name again Miss?"
Rose noted his seemingly haunted expression and said in a calm and collected tone,
"Rose, my name is Rose Arden."
Percy's eyes lit up in alarm but he coughed slightly, hiding his very apparent shock and almost…Fear and smiled at her warmly, although the expression itself felt fake.
Rose's lips pursed in a slight frown, she knew something was off with him, yet she didn't know what…And evidently she will have to find out sometime in the future, however that was not the important thing at that exact…For it was now time for both her and Robert's initiation into this group.
However as she pondered in her head, one last question remained…And she opened her mouth and spoke that question.
"Before me and Robert join…I have to ask…Who exactly are you people?"
The Lancastrian looked up and gazed at her with beady green eyes and said in a mysterious, almost unnerving voice.
"We are the watchers in the dark, we are the blades hidden in the crowd, we stay our blades from the flesh of the innocent and slip away into the dark unknown…And we have done so since the time of Rome, with a Brotherhood in every known power in this world, from the distant lands in the east, to The Holy Roman Empire…Everywhere, North, South, East, West…We will be wherever there is civilisation. We are the Assassins."