Thank you for the reviews~! I appreciate it~! Here's another chapter~!
When Captain Nicholls awoke, he was in a soft white bed, the duvet so very warm compared to the cold he had felt before. He had fallen asleep on the long walk, he realized, and made a mental note to thank the girl. Sitting up, he tried to lift his right arm, but found it wouldn't move, but hung limply from his side. A clean white sling rested on a table beside the bed, and he limped over to it and put it on himself, sliding his arm into it. It hurt to walk, but he grit his teeth and made his way over to the landing. He was on the second floor, he noticed, as he made his way painfully over to a banister. The house he was in was incredibly large from what he could see; so many doors, and more floors above and him. He heard the girl before he saw her.
She walked out from yet another door on the floor below, her arms crossed and her face bored. Now he could see her, he could accurately guess her age at around seventeen, and she was at an average height. She had long black hair, hanging down to her waist like shimmering silk curtains. Her eyes were, even at his distance, an unmistakably light blue, like the slight tinge of diamonds in the light. She had skin that was pale like porcelain, and she was petite. A long, pale blue dress floated around her, the bottom inches from the ground, and she was barefoot underneath. The long sleeves nearly covered her hands and her arms uncrossed and hung by her sides.
"Young mistress, why did you have to kill them?"
A worried-looking woman hurried out, her hair grey and her skin wrinkled like crunched up paper. Her hair was up in a tight bun, and she wore a black dress with a white apron tied around her waist. A cup of tea was in her hands, and she held it out to the girl.
"Hedda, must I repeat myself? They were a threat to myself and then man's safety. I could not - and certainly, would not - sit by as they shot us."
"But young mistress! You saved an English soldier, and killed two German soldiers. You might very well have waved a flag declaring your loyalty to the English!" She had a strong German accent.
"I would saved a soldier of either side; he was the only living and I intended to keep it that way." She took tea and sipped it. "Given the massacre I chanced upon - oh, Hedda, don't look at me like that! - I did not want another life wasted, be he a fool or not for taking part in this fool's war."
"Young mistress, I must highly-"
Someone knocked sharply on the door.
"They'll kill me! They'll kill you! All for that damned English-"
The girl opened the door and stepped back as three German officials stormed into the house. They slammed the door behind her and held their weapons tightly. One stepped forward.
"Young miss, vere is the Englishman? Ve vish to with him, talk."
The girl sipped her tea.
"Please do not lie in my house, and please put your weapons by the door."
The Germans stared at her, then slowly obeyed.
"Vere is the Englishman? Young miss, please do not play around viz us. Ve know you helped him and ve know you killed to Germans in doing so. Ve understand you are viz ze English now, and ve very kindly like to talk to ze man, and will spare you for all you have done for us."
The girl laughed and sat down in an armchair.
"I will not hand him over to die. Were you not aware of this before you came here? I believe you were, but simply wished for an excuse to kill me. I am also surprised you managed to get here without being seen. I congratulate you." She gave a slight bow of her head, and sipped her tea again. "Hedda, to your room."
Hedda gave a few quick curtsies to the Germans and the girl, and hastily made her way back the way she had came.
The girl looked at the Germans with a frightening look in her eyes. "Understand well, fools."
She took a sip of her tea.
"You fight and kill others for reasons you do not understand. You go to war for the sake of two fools who declare war on each other, for the sake of one fool shot dead. You go to war for the sake of two fools, in a school boy's quarrel. You are fools, fighting under fools, against fools. The two fools have dragged you all into their school boy's quarrel. But I ask, what is their right? What right are they given to do Time's job, to take the lives of fools under other fools? You kill a man because he wears another uniform and speaks another language. You are a fool, as are the rest. You'll give your life for the sake of a fool's war. I do not do so. I fight for the fool who pays me. No, that is incorrect. I kill for the fool who pays me. Whatever uniform that fool wears, whatever language he speaks. And it disgusts me. But I am not but another fool dragged into a fool's war. I am one who watches from the sidelines, watches the school boy's quarrel. I am the one who will kill for both sides, but also save lives for both. I am, what might be called, the equilibrium of this quarrel." The girl stirred her tea. "But now I own this one fool, and I shall not let him return to a fool's battle. I shall not let him die a fool's death. When this quarrel has burnt out, taking cities and lives with it, then I shall let him return to this world of fools. But until then, he is my fool, and with him you shall do naught. Is that clear?"
One of the Germans slowly pulled a knife out from his belt, hiding it behind his back, hoping that the girl did not noticed. Unfortunately, he wasn't very lucky.
A small knife whistled through the air and planted itself firmly in his throat. Another became great friends with the neck of the other German. The girl sprung up and held another knife at the throat of the German with whom she had been speaking with.
"C-Clear," whispered the German.
"I do very much hope so. It has been a pleasure, sir."
"T-The same to you, young miss. Ve are very sorry for ze inconvenience."
The girl smiled. "Oh, you should be."
Still with the knife at his throat, she pushed him backwards until she reached the door, then opened it, kneed him in the groin, and shoved him out the door. She closed the door with a sweet "Come again sometime~" and then locked it.
Hedda hurried back out, being careful not to look at the bodies as the girl reclaimed her knives and wiped them on their uniforms. She slid them back into the holders that were artfully hidden under her sleeves, then pressed a button by the door, and the bodies fell through whatwas now recognizable as a trap door.
"Hedda, I am rather hungry. Would you start breakfast?"
The old lady nodded and hurried off again, as the girl considered the floor. There was not a speck of blood on the white tiles. The trap door closed again and the girl began to walk upstairs. When she saw Nicholls on the landing, she considered him for a second, then walked over to him and put his arm over her shoulder to help support him.
"Now, you really should not be walking around. After the troubles I went to getting you upstairs! Hedda refused to help, grumpy old bat." She smiled as she said that, and Nicholls could tell she meant no harm towards Hedda. "But I suppose now you're up and walking you might as well come downstairs for breakfast."
After a few painful minutes, Nicholls and the girl were seated in a large dining room, the girl at the head of the table and Nicholls to her right.
"I suppose you heard my conversation with the Germans?"
Nicholls nodded.
"I might as well introduce myself, then. I am Elizabeth Walterson, more commonly known as Eliza, master assassin. I kill when people pay me, and save lives when people don't." She gave Nicholls a smile. "Please don't be mistaken; I am not a bad person. I just do what I must to survive in this world of fools. Would you introduce yourself please, sir?"
Nicholls took a breath.
"I am Captain James Nicholls," he replied, words coming easier after his sleep.
"Mr Captain James Nicholls, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," smiled Eliza, and she would have shook his hand had it not been in a sling. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized something, then with a slight smile called for Hedda. When the woman hurried in, Eliza murmured something to her in quick German, and Hedda nodded and hurried off again. Nicholls wondered with slight curiosity what she had said, but his curiosity disappeared when the smell of eggs and sausages wafted into the dining room. Hedda pushed a silver trolley into the room, laden with goods. She placed a plate of eggs and sausages in front of Eliza, and a plate in front of Nicholls. The silverware was already on the table.
"Please enjoy," smiled Eliza, and when Nicholls went to eat, he noticed with a small smile that the food had already been cut up for him.