1 Regret Or Revenge?

Year 1620, Duskmere town of Frumistire Empire,

Elara held her dark gray coat tightly around her waist, hiding her dark boots and midnight breeches as the autumn winds cut her skin, the night was frosty and cold making the streets desolate not that she was complaining.

She checked the path again as she entered the large dilapidated building. It looked abandoned from outside but she knew better. Underground, there was the headquarters of the biggest underground assassination group of the empire, Twilight Enigma.

Once she was part of it, worked for it for all her life until two years ago when she left to save herself from rape but she lost her most precious thing that day. It made her wonder if saving her purity was worth it?

Her eyes went frosty with anger and hatred. She was here to take revenge and she would not stop until she would destroy them. And luckily, she had a plan for it.

She knew all the backdoors, all the hidden paths deeply engraved in her mind from all the training she had received as a nipper. She knocked on the wall until she found a hollow part of the wall and it took her only a minute to open a dog hole.

She entered a room full of stolen goods, jewels, gold and firearms that could blow the whole building and she paused, entertaining the idea for a second before shaking her head and taking left.

She hid behind the crates when she heard noises from the other side. The guards patrolling were taking opium and speaking gibberish. She took a deep breath and walked slowly to test the waters.

"Who is there?" one of them shouted, making her curse as she threw a crate down and took out a few rats from her small bag.

She jumped on the other side when they came running to check the crates. She was already opening the door when she heard them chuckling over rats. She was lucky that they were too high to judge things fairly.

But there was another patrol near the office and these guards looked much sober. She hid in the back corner of the warehouse and only slipped inside when they stopped to check on the other guards while hiding behind the barrels of alcohol all this time.

Elara waited inside, hidden behind the dark containers until the guards were away from the door. She only moved when she felt it was safe to do so.

She had gotten a tip from an old working partner, that their boss, Thomas, known as Tommy had gone to crack a big deal himself and this was the first and last chance she could have for stealing all the dossiers hidden under his dark office.

It contained proof enough to ruin him and all the men behind him who give this dark place power to destroy innocent lives. She walked towards the lock with ease.

He had never opened this one in front of her but she was sure each of his locks had the same password for he had never expected one would dare to steal from him, the biggest power in the empire that even his majesty would not question.

She pressed the levers with surety, reveling in the joy when the box moved but she paused with widened eyes when it showed another lock, a lock that needed a key.

She had not expected Tommy to take so much precaution. Whatever was inside, it was worth taking the risk.

Elara pulled the long chain from her neck which had a brass tube. She removed its tip and opened a small box taking it out from her pocket. It contains dozens of small keys. In seconds, she selected the proper one and attached it to the pendant.

It opened with a thunk and she took out all the ledgers, dossiers and books that it contained. But the last drawer was too narrow. A smile appeared on her lips. If not for paying so much attention to every file, its width and size to hide it under her clothes, she would have missed it.

She took out the false ending wood of the drawer and opened the secret compartment only to find a small black book hidden underneath. Her heart pounded in her chest as she knew what it was!

It contained the names and secrets of all his customers. He had made it to make sure that no one would betray him. He always keeps this one in his pocket. So, it shocked her when she found it in the drawer.

"It is really my lucky day." she whispered to herself as she picked it up. She checked the book and then slipped it into her pocket. Then she hid every other book and replaced it with the false ones she had brought with herself. It would take him a week at least to know that he was robbed and by then, she would be far away from this place.

She cleaned every trail that proved her presence in the room and used the last smoke to clean her smell and waited at the door, behind the curtains just as she had before waiting for their shift to end.

"That child is crying again? I wonder why he is kept here when we could send him to the locked bars where other kidnapped men are kept?" The frustrated voice and a growl was heard from the other side with some cursing sound by the others.

She thanked the child for her luck as they left to attend him. She came out faster than before and hid behind the barrels when she heard a scream and the crying intensified.

"Shut up you son of a bitch or I will send you to your mother." the man threatened and the sound of welt that horrified her and no wonder another gut wrenching scream left the room.

Elara closed her eyes because she knew she had to run. She had to disappear in the dark or all her hard work would go in the drain. Thousand of other children like this one would die from Tommy's hands and she would regret her decision of saving this one at the expense of so many lives. But….

She could not bear to regret tonight for not saving a child when she could!