An Assassin for the Slave Read online

  When it was not her work period, or she needed rest she crawled under her hung rags, to sleep right in her cube. She did go up to take daily showers, but she used the local toilets down in the entry cave when needed.

  She seemed to ignore the title documents, until one night when he walked the high metal scaffolding overhead; he saw that they were gone. He dropped down silently and took the exit tunnel to go up to the area where some new homes were established.

  He found Magda sitting cross-legged outside the open door of the home he had purchased and outfitted for her to live in on this planet. He left her alone to make her own decisions. He might own her body, but he never wanted to own her mind.

  It was several nights before he could check on her again and she was asleep under her bench. He left her some special fruit on her bench for her breakfast, but did not disturb her.

  Again when he checked she was not in her hiding place, so he went silently up the exit. There she was, sitting stiffly outside the open door.

  He made a slight noise with his soft-soled boots so she would know he was approaching, and then he sat down in the same position she had taken, crossing his long legs up tight to his body. He would not speak first, so he waited.

  At last she moved, stretching out one leg. "It seems to have lots of rooms."

  Bogdan looked only through the door. "Four, a bedroom with a separate bathroom, this center room you see and a room that is as an office but you could use it as a guest room if you choose." He also shifted. "Why have you not entered?"

  She just looked through the door as she spoke and when he glanced over he saw desire in her eyes. "I can't pay the price."

  He thought about the statement for a few quiet moments. What did she mean by the word price? Then he thought about the hard life this woman had lived and all the evil things that had been done to her. He realized that in order to appease her he would have to extract a price, but it would have to be one she could pay.

  Bogdan spoke in his whisper that only she would hear. "Since my mother placed me outside a large door in the darkness and walked away, I have never had a friend to talk to about what might be on my mind. There just were others to fight against in order to survive." He saw her nod in understanding. "I would really like to have a place to come to now and then with a friend to talk about things. The rooms here would make a nice place to rest. It would be my price in exchange to you staying here and keeping it for me."

  There was silence in the hallway for a time, and then Magda rose slowly and walked through the doorway. She didn't move like a person inspecting their new home; she moved like a kitten, watching out for danger, but liking the soft items she saw.

  She went to the smaller of the two couches, pushing it closer to the window. She gathered all of the pillows on it to one end and curled up with them. She had found a place she could accept, and she could meet his price, at least for now.

  Bogdan came and sat on the floor, facing the window with his back against the couch. He would never do anything to hurt this female, either in body or mind or heart. There were enough beings in the universe that he would be hired to injure or kill. He was surprised when she spoke in the dim room lit only from the window.

  "As a female child I was a useless weight to my family. They were poor, living in a poor section of a poor dying planet. When they gave me something as simple as food, it had a price, usually a beating from the youngest brother. My mother died and was no longer there to protect me."

  He watched the ocean torn by the storm as he felt himself relax, in a way that was not normal for his training. "My mother gave me away as a very small child to the Assassin's league. The league had little use of small boys until they became strong enough to train in the proper manner. To become strong, there was pain and starvation. The reward was the leftover food and drinks if you were still able to hold yourself up to steal them."

  The two beings, so different yet so alike sat in silence, watching the storms as night moved slowly outside the window. At last his time was up, and he had to return to his position as protector.

  No one would understand this relationship, and many would put too many wrong interpretations on the connection of a killer and a gentle worker.

  Still both of them served the Mistress, perhaps more than they served the Twinned Dissnue. They would be more loyal and perhaps help the Mistress more than the Red Brigade. But for now the two each had a friend, and the Mistress had protectors.

  The End.

  About the Author

  After raising a daughter, running an International Business, traveling the world and only finding time to write a few minutes in any twenty-four hour period, Muriel now is retired in Florida and can write all day and all night, which she often does. Under the pen name of M. Garnet, she uses all the experience she gained and without any hesitation draws information from her long list of friends and acquaintances worldwide. Visit her web site www.mgarnet.com. She loves to hear from you at [email protected].