Somewhere underground, inside of a wine mansion in Napa Valley.

 

Two prisoners were kneeling on the ground, with all their limbs in metal cuffs and other metal chains wrapped around their torso and legs, one in a suit of leather armor, and one in a broken trench coat. Both of these prisoners had their heads shaved and face severely beaten up and swollen. 

 

Six men in black suits were standing behind these two prisoners, with guns in their hands and knives in their pockets, just in case either of these prisoners tried to escape.

 

“Sorry to have kept you waiting.” an old lady walked out from one of the luxurious looking side doors, slowly with a young but sharp looking woman in a full body skin tight suit and two short daggers strapped around her thighs: “But you know, I am getting there with my age, and you’d have to bear with me.”

 

The two prisoners raised their heads and looked at the old lady.

 

“Please, Lady Vyn.” the prisoner in leather armor said, her voice was trembling and she made a wheezing sound when she spoke, as if there was something wrong with her lungs, “My brother and I… we didn’t know it was yours!”

 

“Oh, you didn’t know?” the sharp looking young woman helped the old lady into her chair that looked somewhat like a throne, made of expensive wood which gave out a nice calming smell: “Then tell me, whose artifact did you think it was? When you took it from my shelf, inside of my store, on a street I owned?”

 

“We - we’re new in town. We’re just trying to get by.” the female prisoner said: “My brother and I just escaped from our family, and we’re just trying to find the best player in town and serve him - or her.”

 

“Well, you found her.” Lady Vyn took a cup of tea from the young woman by her side: “Now, give me a reason not to hang you somewhere on the hills.”

 

“We -we have skills!! We’re very good with our hands, and we could sneak into almost anywhere!” the male prisoner frantically explained: “We - we can work for you! We can steal for you!”

 

“It’s true, if it weren’t for the new security system we installed, they might have already got away with it.” the sharp young woman by Lady Vyn’s side whispered into Lady Vyn’s ear: “Our security guards could not stop them - or even catch up with them.”

 

“Okay, indeed, quite useful.” Lady Vyn smiled at the two prisoners: “So, I guess do know what you’re doing huh? And you wanna serve? Serve… like a person? Or a purpose?”

 

“Yes! Yes!” the female prisoner nodded her head like crazy: “We’d do anything, to serve you! And to serve your causes!”

 

“Okay.” Lady Vyn thought for a while, then said to the sharp young woman by her side: “Bring the daggers and let them try.”

 

“Try? We can try! We can try whatever you want!” the male prisoner said, his eyes glimmering with hope, blood and tears.

 

“Daggers. The gold ones.” the sharp young woman said to the men in black suits.

 

Two of the men nodded and left the room. After just a few minutes, both of them came back with boxes made of the same wood that made the throne on which Lady Vyn was sitting on, they were also decorated with well crafted pieces of jade, amber and meticulous gold linings.

 

“These daggers. They were forged by one of the most powerful and capable weaponsmiths in this world.” Lady Vyn explained as the two men in black showed the two prisoners what was inside the boxes: “They were sharp, sturdy, and they can cut through almost anything just like hot knives through butter. Were, that’s the key word. They lost power, as my most trusted warriors fell with them in battle.”

 

“I have been searching for suitable warriors to replace them for quite a while. Alas, my men are strong, but none qualified.” Lady Vyn walked down from her throne: “And here’s the opportunity for you - if you qualify, you will be free from these cuffs, you just have to serve me for five years, after which you will be truly free.”

 

“What if we’re not?” the female prisoner asked.

 

“Then you’ll die, a horrible death.” Lady Vyn smiled and turned to the men in suites: “Uncuff their hands.”

 

With their hands free, but the rest of their bodies still in bind, the brother and sister prisoners looked at each other and hesitated for a while.

 

“Yes, take your time.” Lady Vyn chuckled: “Why not? You can either die a horrible death, at the hands of my men, at the daggers, or you can be free and have a nice contract from me, one of the high brokers of the Exalted Bondsmen.”

 

“Sis?” the male prisoner asked: “I...”

 

“Something’s not right.” the female prisoner said.

 

“But… we don’t have a choice.” the male prisoner said: “We should at least try...”

 

“Try...” the female prisoner sighed.

 

The two prisoners looked into each other’s swollen eyes for a bit, then they seemed to have reached an agreement.

 

“Let’s count to three.” the female prisoner said.

 

“Okay.”

 

“One, two… Three!”

 

The two prisoners grabbed the golden daggers from the boxes held right in front of them.

 

Veins started popping up on their hands that held the daggers and their wrists, the two prisoners gasped and moaned in pain. Then after just a few seconds, both of them lowered their heads and seemed to have passed out.

 

“Okay, uncuff them.” the sharp woman by Lady Vyn’s side said.

 

The men in black suits unlocked the chains and cuffs on the two prisoners’ body. Then, they raised their guns at the two prisoners as they were still lying on the ground face down.

 

The female prisoner woke up first, the wounds on her face all healed, but her eyes became dilated and empty, like she did not remember who she was.

 

“Splash!” the female prisoner swung her dagger, and the male prisoner lost his head before he even got a chance to wake up.

 

“Not totally unexpected. ” Lady Vyn watched with a smile on her face: “It’s always, well, ALMOST always the older ones of the siblings.”

 

“It’s the sense of responsibility, and the grudge of having to take care of the annoying youngster.” the sharp young woman said.

 

“At your service, your wish is my command, Lady Lucias Vyn.” the female prisoner took the dagger from her dead younger brother’s hand and knelt down before the throne.

 

“Thank you, my child.” Lucias Vyn said: “You shall remain nameless for now. And your first target: a bitch named Carol Summers. Kill her and bring her head back. My men will provide you with the details.”

 

“Understood. It will be done.” the female prisoner stood up and walked out of the room, in the company of three men in black suits.

 

“Carol Summers is not an easy target.” the sharp young woman said.

 

“No matter, we don’t actually need her head.” Lucias Vyn stood up and was ready to leave, as her men started cleaning up the body on the floor: “We don’t even need her dead. We just need to stall her.”

 

“Will she be able to tell?”

 

“No one’s gonna be able to prevent it from self-destructing. What’s the use of an assassin if you can’t even die promptly when you’ve failed?”