17 1st Lifetime: Syndicate (1)

Mai looked at Fredrich in disgust. She couldn't believe that she had seen Dir in him. "What made you betray us, Fredrich?" Mai said, her eyes a blazing ball of anger.

Fredrich looked amused. Kaleb walked over to Fredrich and looped his arm around his shoulder. "You guys are nobles, that's why," Fredrich condescendingly said.

Mai was incredulous. "What do you mean?" She looked at Fredrich up and down. "You're a noble yourself!"

Shaking his head, Fredrich shot a look of pity towards Mai. "I'm not a noble. My great-grandfather was a mercenary whose deeds were too great that the King was pressured to give a noble title to him. We're nobles in name only. And that is why I can't forgive you nobles."

"What for?" Mai said, "For your great-grandfather getting a title?"

"For the nobles using my great-grandfather as a tool to increase their influence!" Fredrich burst out, "He was worked down to the bone! And to top it off, my grandfather and my father and even me! We're all dogs for you nobles! Not only that, but I see how you treat the commoners. Corruption! Rape! Abuse!"

Kaleb smirked, "That's why we're getting even. We're going to get rid of the nobles and the caste system."

Mai stared at the two boys. A thought crossed her mind and horror slowly crossed her features. "You mean-"

Kaleb whistled, "She's a smart one, Fredrich."

Fredrich nodded, "She needs to be to at least present a challenge." He coughed, "But you're right Maria. We're starting with the nobles' children first. If we get rid of the heirs, then-"

"They no longer have somebody to continue their line and if we kill them, then the nobles are finished." Kaleb continued.

"You're crazy," Mai furrowed her brows, "How many people are you planning to kill to achieve this? Every noble?"

"Of course!" Fredrich grew hysterical, "They all deserve to die!"

Sputtering, Mai took a step back from the madmen. "Both of you are not only crazy, but stupid. If all the nobles die and the caste system no longer exists, what do you think would prevent society from crumbling? Change can't happen as rapidly as you're trying to make it happen- if it does, it all comes tumbling down."

Fredrich's face darkened, "Shut up, noble. Your noble talk won't work on us."

"Wait, Fredrich," Kaleb said, interest on his features, "Let's hear her out for a second. It's her last words, after all."

Mai took a deep breath. "To change a society, you have to bring change to the next generation. I should know-" I wanted to change the village, but I learned that it could only happen with the village children. Dir was the one who taught me that.

"How can you know?" Fredrich said, "You're a noble! Everything is given to you on a silver platter! You don't want change!"

"Shut up, Fredrich. Let her speak." Kaleb held down Fredrich from fighting Mai. They both took a calming breath and faced the small girl once more.

"The way you're heading would only lead to more deaths and a dictatorship. Who's going to be the new king? How can you be sure that he won't revert the caste system back? If a government is built on blood, then blood is the only thing that can keep the government in power," Mai thought back to a story the God had told her about a revolution.

"Is that all you have to say?" scoffed Fredrich. Mai nodded. "Then those are your last words." He began to walk menacingly towards Mai. Mai took a few steps back. She needed for her back to hit the wall before she could retaliate.

"Stop, Fredrich," Heith's voice timely called out from behind Mai. Mai's eyes widened in surprise while the eyes of Fredrich and Kaleb widened even more so.

"How did you get here?" Fredrich asked, incredulously.

Heith leisurely walked in front of Mai, stretching his arms and cracking his neck. "Oh, were you talking about those men that you sent to deal with me?" Heith grinned, "They were a good warm-up. Especially that one with the whip."

Fredrich and Kaleb looked in horror at Heith. "Who are you?" Kaleb whispered. It was the boys' turn to take a few steps back.

Heith's grin grew larger as he took in the fear in the boys' eyes. "Well, I was a well-known assassin, boys. Perhaps you need to do a bit more research on the nobles you're trying to destroy."

Kaleb's face darkened, "Even if you kill us, our syndicate will continue to eradicate the nobles!"

"Kill? Who said anything about kill? I'm going to capture you. I'm sure a little bit of torture will do you two some good."

Mai closed her eyes and blocked her ears, but she could still hear the sickening crunch of bones being broken. After a while, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She opened her eyes.

"It's safe now, m'lady," Heith mouthed his words. Mai nodded. She took her hands away from her ears. Hesitating, she turned to look at the boys.

They were both knocked unconscious. Keith had three broken bones- two from his right arm and another his right leg. Fredrich, on the other hand, had worse injuries. Both of his legs were broken, and Mai could see the broken bone peeking from his upper arm. The reason why she could defeat people in one blow was because she hated the sound of broken bones.

"M'lady," Heith called out to Mai, noticing her pale complexion. "Are you alright?"

Mai breathed in and out deeply. She needed to get a grip. "Yes, I'm alright," Mai decisively said, "Where is everybody and have you contacted the households?"

Heith's face turned grim. "The other kids are fine. I hid them in a safe place. But we weren't able to contact the households. All of the horses were set loose and the messengers were nowhere to be found."

Muttering, Mai began to pace the floor. 'Obviously, this is the first stage of their plan- kidnapping the children of important nobles and then killing them...? No, that doesn't make sense. Why would they tie up Elizabeth and Victoria and Ivan and... Fredrich? The only thing I can think of doing so is to demand a ransom. That's it! Any organization needs money.'

Mai took a calming breath. 'Obviously, they wouldn't expect a noble's child to be able to resist, so stage one would be a given. But if I were them, what would I do next? Wait-'

Mai's eyes widened, 'This wouldn't be the only part of the first stage! If I were the leader, I would kidnap the children, hold them for ransom, and then kill them later which was exactly what Fredrich was saying. But that's not all, I would then have spies sent in all of the nobles' households, and when the time is right and the ransom is gotten...'

"Heith!" Mai turned her head towards the ex-assassin. "We need to return to the house-immediately!"

"What's wrong, m'lady?"

"They're going to kill all of the nobles! Even if this part of the plan didn't work out, they'll still be able to kill our parents! We need to quickly go and save them!"

"Calm down!" Heith grabbed Mai's arm. "Please explain it a bit more, m'lady!"

Mai took a calming breath. "You know the syndicate or group or whatever that Fredrich and Kaleb are in, right? Well, their plan is to create an upheaval in the governing system by killing all of the nobles and perhaps either threaten or kill the King! To do that, there needs to be a bit of finesse in their plan- which would be why there would be spies in each of the households' staff, waiting for the right time to strike."

Heith incredulously looked at Mai. "How do you know this? Perhaps they have some other way?"

"But they've already recruited children! And they were planning on getting a ransom for us before they kill us!"

"How does them recruiting children become killing all of the nobles?"

Frustrated, Mai turned to face Heith. "It's not that! If there are children involved, that means that a lot of people know about their cause. So much, in fact, that even children are involved in it! Furthermore, they must have run out of funding, so that's why they've decided to implement this plan. And, if they kill the heirs that our parents' have taken so much time to groom, then that is practically killing two birds with one stone."

"Okay," Heith nodded his head, still not convinced, "I still don't understand, but I'll trust you this once, Maria. What do we need to do?"

Mai grew contemplative. "You know what? I think I know of a better plan." She thought back to the voice. "Maybe we need to be the oriole."

"What?"

"'The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind'. We need to the be oriole. So, let's pretend that their plan of getting a ransom does work out."

"How? We've beaten the crap out of everyone. Even the two boys that were spies."

"But the men seemed to be more like mercenaries rather than a part of their cause. We just need to ask Fredrich or Kaleb to see if this is true. If it is, then we can obviously find out how the group contacted them and be able to trick them that their first plan worked."

"What about the injured boys?"

"Them? They were planning on getting kidnapped with us. Or at least Fredrich. Fredrich will still be 'kidnapped' as planned, but we need to figure out what was Kaleb's job. However, I assume that Kaleb's job was more to ensure that Fredrich would be alright. He also seemed to be professionally trained which fits my guess."

"Alright."

"Alright?!" Mai looked at Heith in surprise. "You're just trusting me like that? How can you be so sure that I'm right?"

Heith grinned and brought his hand up to his heart. "I used to be an assassin, Maria. I trust my instincts. And my instincts say that you're right. Let's just hope that your plans turn out to be alright as well."