Assassin’s Fate

Symphe stood outside my cell door. Her fair hair was braided back and pinned to her head. She wore a simple shirt of white cotton, belted at her waist. Her trousers looked like soft linen, and she wore short brown boots. The cuffs of the white shirt were folded back almost to her elbows, as if she had dressed to scrub a floor. She lifted a finger to her lips, then produced a set of keys from a pouch at her belt. Four keys, spaced out on leashes of silver chains. She selected one and turned it in the lock. And another key, and another clicking turn. A third key.

‘How do you come to have all the keys?’ I asked her.

‘Ssshh.’ The lock clicked. The final key.

I stood and backed into the corner of my cell. ‘I won’t go with you.’

You should. She is alone and she thinks you are just a little girl. This may be your best chance for freedom.

The final click of the key. She swung the barred door open. She smiled at me. ‘You don’t have to be afraid. Look what I have.’ She opened a little pouch and shook something out into her hand. ‘Look,’ she whispered. ‘Candy.’ The pieces looked like gleaming buttons of red and pink and yellow. She took one and put it in her mouth. ‘Mmm. Delicious. Like a cherry but sweet as honey.’ She took a pink one between her thumb and forefinger. ‘Try it.’ She advanced on me, holding it out.

I stepped sideways to avoid being cornered.

‘Take it,’ she said in a breathy voice. I held out my hand and she set the candy into it. ‘Eat it,’ she whispered. ‘You’ll like it.’

‘Is it poisoned? Or drugged?’

Her eyes widened. ‘Didn’t you just see me eat one?’

Pretend to be stupid, stupid!

I nearly laughed out loud. Instead, I pretended to put the candy into my mouth.

‘Well?’ she demanded. Her whisper was not as soft. She was exasperated.

I nodded, pouching one cheek out. ‘Good,’ I said around my tongue.

Her smile was relieved. ‘See. I am nothing to be afraid of. If you come with me, very quietly, I will give you more candy.’ She crooked her finger at me, beckoning.

I assumed my most puzzled expression. ‘Where are we going?’

She barely hesitated. ‘To make things right. Poor little child. I’ve come to tell you it was all a mistake. No one meant to hurt you. It was all a misunderstanding. You should not have been taken from your home. So now we must make it right. Come with me.’

‘But where?’

She backed toward the open door and I followed her. In the corridor, she closed the door to my cell softly. ‘It’s a surprise,’ she added.

‘Surprise,’ said the black man and laughed quietly.

She turned toward his cell, her face contorted with hate. ‘Why aren’t you dead yet?’

‘Because I’m alive!’ he announced with no effort to lower his voice. He laughed aloud like rolling thunder. ‘Why aren’t you dead yet?’

‘Because I’m smarter than you. I know when to stop. I know when to cease being a problem.’ She steered me away, her hand heavy on my shoulder.

At that, his laughter boomed. ‘You think you know so much. You’ve seen so many possible futures and you think you can pick and choose. And you have, for so long. For so many generations, you’ve chosen what you thought was best. Not best for the world, not best for people. Best for you and those who serve you. You chose what would give you the greatest wealth, the most comfort, the most power!’

His words followed us. Other prisoners were waking staring through the bars of their cells as we passed. ‘It’s nothing, he’s mad, go back to sleep!’ Symphe spoke the words through gritted teeth, keeping her voice low.

‘But the world spins on and there is a destined path. You can tip it only so far before it rights itself! It’s all inevitable now. I see, but you refuse to look.’ He sounded mad to me. Perhaps he was. How long could you keep a man caged before he went insane?

We reached the door at the end of the corridor. ‘Open it!’ she snapped at me and I did. We passed into the dimness of the little room. Descending the stairs meant that she loosened her grip on my shoulder. I thought of darting away. Not yet. I’d wait until there was a choice of direction to flee in. But I took the steps faster and the only grip she could keep was on the loose fabric of my shirt. If I needed to, I could tear free of her.

Not yet.

We went down, and down and then down again. ‘Where are we going?’ I asked her.

‘To see some friends,’ she replied. ‘They have the candy.’

The first two landings we passed were open to corridors I recognized. They led to the rooms full of scrolls and books. When we reached the ground floor, she led me down a wide hall. Door after door we passed, but at last she paused before one. She took out a ring of brass keys, selected one and opened a tall door. ‘Hush,’ she warned me. More steps, another locked door, and down again. She unlocked a final door and motioned that I should enter.