Chapter Four

Late that night when the entire village was asleep is when Sasha made her move. She quietly and undetected slipped out of her shop and went around to the back where her horse Swift Wind waited patiently.
Sasha put on the black mask and cloaked herself with the black cape. She tied her hair up in a bun and tucked it into the black hat she was wearing. She wanted to hide her identity at all costs. If anyone were to find out who she was, it would be disastrous. She would die for this she knew it!
She mounted her beautiful black steed and slowly they trotted out of the village, trying to make as little noise as possible. Sasha tied cloth under swift wind's feet to silence his hooves from beating the cobblestone, just until they reached the outside of the gates, then she would remove it.
They made sure to walk behind as many buildings as possible so not to be seen by anyone. They weaved in and out of corners and alleys. Finally they reached the gates. It seemed they were home free, but Sasha spotted a guard at the gate. This was just great. Sasha remembered that the king said he was stepping up security. Sasha tied Swift Wind to a stake behind a building. Before they could leave she would have to take care of the guard.
Sasha silently crept over to a pile of rocks near the gate. She made sure he wasn't looking and then hurled a rock way over on the other side to distract him. The guard looked in the direction of where the rock landed; he turned and shouted, " Who's there?" As he had his back turned Sasha took the butt of her sword and hit him on the head knocking him unconscious. She dragged his motionless body over to a haystack a few feet from the gate and hid his body underneath the pile. " That ought to do it." Sasha said under her breath. She returned to her loyal steed Swift Wind. She removed the cloth from his hooves, and then mounted him. With one glance back to make sure she wasn't being watched or followed, they rode off into the starry night.
Through the trees and the wind they rode. Swift Wind was a very loyal horse. He had been in Sash's family for a long time. Her father had used him in his day. Hard to believe that her father once was the mysterious rider in black himself. Her father's views did not agree with the kingdoms. So her father righted all the counsel's wrongs by going around in a black outfit and doing whatever necessary to stop the counsel's evil doings. The king was a good man, but he was easily fooled and tricked by the counsel. That's the true reason Sasha didn't take her father's place in the counsel, she knew that they were evil and they conned the king and his people. Only her father and their family knew of the counsel's secret plans, secret plans to conquer and rule Arcadia their selves. Last night they were delivering a map of the kingdom to the neighboring castle to plan an ambush. The counsel had made a Bargin with the kingdom of Verica. They said that they would pay the king of Verica if he would take his army and aid them in over-throwing the king of Arcadia. The counsel surely couldn't turn the kings own people against him. They were loyal and loved him, so they went to Verica to try their luck.
Sasha had caught wind of this plan. She had been eaves dropping on the Counsel's meetings and has heard all of their plans. She decided that last night she would ambush the caravan on it's way to Verica. The caravan had the money and the map; she had to retrieve both in order to foil their plans. Without the money they couldn't close the deal, and without the map they couldn't plan their attack. So she attacked the horses and carriages. She managed to get the money and the map effortlessly, but getting away was complicated. She didn't expect the caravan to have such heavily armed guards. The only thing that helped her was the fact that they had heavy armor on, causing their horses to go slower under the weight.
Tonight was a whole different game plan. Earlier that day as she was going home from the kingdom she over heard a secret conversation in the alley behind the kingdom. It was two of the counsel members. They were planning another trip to Verica to give them the money they would need. They didn't have the map so they would have to hold out on the attack for a while until another can either be found or made, and that would take sometime. Sasha just had to get that money and keep it from ever reaching Verica. She just had to do it.