Cursed

The next morning, Alexandra woke with a start. She was breathing heavily as if she had been running. She looked around at her surroundings. She was in an unfamiliar place. The mansion was nowhere in sight. she seemed to be in a glade somewhere in the forest surrounding the mansion.

She saw a cloaked figure coming toward her from between the trees. "Excuse me, who are you? And do you know where I am?" Alexandra asked the cloaked figure.

"You are near the Court of Jades. And to your other question, you already know who I am." the cloaked figure responded.

"Then, why are you here? Were you sent to find me?" she asked.

"I am a messenger for Markus, leader of the Intelligence guild of the Jades. So, no, I was not sent to find you. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I don't know. The last thing I remember is falling asleep at the mansion. When I woke up, I was here."

"Whose mansion? The closest mansion is nearly 100 miles away, belonging to one of Alexander's fledglings."

"How far away is Alexander's mansion?"

"Alexander Siete?" she nodded in response. "You're a long ways from there, it's nearly 500 miles away."

"How the hell did I get clear out here?" Alexandra thought out loud. "I couldn't have run 500 miles while I was sleeping."

"Even for someone of your stature, running that great of a distance while sleeping is quite extraordinary. Yes, Alexandra, I know who you are. We knew each other some time ago. You weren't as powerful then or as well known. Perhaps you could accompany me to the Court of Jades while we arrange transportation for your return trip."

"If I already know you, why won't you tell me your name? Or maybe even be daring enough to remove your cloak so I can see your face?"

"The latter I cannot do, at least not until we are safely within the walls of the Court. but as for my name, it's one you should know quite well, actually. We trained together for nearly the first fifty years you were one of us."

After a few minutes of thinking, "Jasper?"

He nodded signifying it was him. It took Alexandra about point two seconds to respond. She jumped into his arms, giving the the biggest bear hug he had ever received.

"It seems like someone is happy to see me," he chuckled as he said this. "But, of course, who wouldn't miss me? I was the best sparring partner you could ever have. I know you were very disappointed the day you learned I was leaving because I was hired elsewhere. Little did you know, when I was off on missions for Markus I would detour to the Warehouse to make sure you were still around and making progress in your technique. If I had known you would end up as good as you are, I would have went a bit harder on you in the beginning."

With a glare from Alexandra, he added, "Of course, I missed you, too. Don't fret too much dear, you are still the cutest little thing I've ever seen, even if you could probably give me a pretty good run for my money now. Eh?"

"Jasper, I missed your humor most of all, I think. you are still probably the cockiest person I know. Yet, for some reason, no matter how much you brag about yourself, you're not arrogant. I really want to know how you do this. Master, teach me your ways." Alexandra drops to the ground appearing to bow to Jasper. After about ten seconds, she stands up, saying, "Okay, never mind, I can't do it. Submissive was never a strong suit of mine. You were right by the way."

"Right about what?" Jasper asked.

"You were the best sparring partner I ever had. I don't know how, but I always did feel as if you were holding back on me. Although, at the time, I didn't want to push the subject, since I wouldn't have been able to handle you. I still feel some days like I have bruises from you that just didn't heal."

The both laughed at that.

Jasper pushed a few buttons on his handheld. "You know you don't get bruises anymore. At least not ones that last longer than an hour. We're nearly there."

They rounded a corner of the path and in front of them was the Court of Jades.

"It's wonderful. Quite a bit prettier then I expected it to be, considering the circumstances."

"We aren't disturbed by many. Since we aren't located in a city or anything we wanted it to look nice instead of like a headquarters. Are you ready to go inside?"

"Sure."

Jasper opened the door for Alexandra. Instead of walking through the doorway like a normal person would, she hopped on his back and held the door open for him to walk through.

"I love piggyback rides!" Alexandra giggled to Jasper.

"You must be in a very good mood right now. I haven't seen you act like a four year old in a very long time. I've kind of missed it."

"I guess you're just lucky then Jasper. I wasn't in a very good mood until I found out who you were. It's been too long since I've seen you, Jasper. No matter what the Court says, we have to stay in touch this time. I guess if that means I will have to join the Court, then so be it."

"Are you serious?!" Jasper exclaimed. "I hoped everyday that the Boss would tell you where I went. Or that you would get nosey enough to sneak into his office. Our assassins could definitely learn a thing or two from you. Is that what you still do at the Warehouse?"

"Yes, I am still an assassin at Warehouse. The best there is, too. Not trying to brag or anything." she paused for several seconds. "Okay, maybe I am, but I've earned that right."

"If you're serious about joining us I could set you up a meeting with the head of the Assassin guild."

"That would be great, thanks. I've been growing tired of Warehouse for quite some time. I just didn't know where else to go. Or what I would do, really.The only thing I'm really good at is killing people. Or getting information out of them. It's something I learned to do after you left. You were the best they had. Since I was the one with the most potential I was chosen to take your place. It wasn't an easy role to fill, let me tell you. It took a while for me to get as good as you were. Boss seemed to like me more, though. I think that might just be because I have boobs more than anything. It can't be about the money since once I got good enough I charged at least double what you did. I would probably have enough money that if I spent it wisely, wouldn't have to to anything at all for the next 300 years. That's not really my style though. I'd get bored and get into trouble."

Jasper smiled and shook his head at her. "I could see you doing just that and then someone, probably me, would have to go get you."

He led her up a flight of stairs and down the hall. They came to a hall leading to the west and Jasper started to walk down it. Alexandra followed a few steps behind him. "Ah, here it is," Jasper said as he knocked on the closed door.

The door opened. A middle-aged man peered out, "Jasper. Wonderful, I was about to send for you. This saves me much time. Who is the girl?"

"This is Alexandra Siete. She is from Warehouse. She is considering joining us and wanted to speak to you."

The man ushered them into the office and closed the door. the office was simply furnished. There was a desk in the center of the room with two chairs for guests or clients. There were three filing cabinets on the wall behind the desk. The walls were painted white and had several pictures of nature scenes on them.

"Jasper, Alexandra, do take a seat. I am Fred Smith. Do you have any questions about the Court or would you like to proceed to the interview?"

"I don't have any questions at the moment. Going to the interview will be fine," she answered.

"Jasper, can I have you leave the room, please? I will call you back when we have concluded the interview."