A soldier, a killer and a fool part 2

Chen’s forehead touched the ground as he prayed before the tree of life. He had come here since he was a child at times when he needed to think. It was a place of great peace where you could feel the presence of God. The tree of life was a singular tree in the middle of the desert no water was presents no other vegetation of any kind near it, a spec of luscious green in the middle of the dead sand. It was said that this was the tree from the Garden of Eden which held the forbidden fruit. Of course he did not believe this but there was something about this place which always calmed him.
He had come here more and more often of late as he neared the end of his plans. His whole life had been dedicated to this moment from the day he had gone into hiding after his father was killed by the emperor. But today all his plans were about to reach fruition.

As a child he had been raised by a series of Merchants who were loyal to his father. They each educated him and thought him to fight, each instilling in him a deep need for revenge. When he was old enough he began to put in to effect plans which had been drawn up for him since he was a child. With the aid of several wealthy merchants he became one of the richest men in Barin and tales began spreading of his incredible skills with money. It wasn’t long before the Emperor began investing money with him and soon an invitation to the palace arrived. When he first met the emperor he had to use every ounce of his strength not to kill the man right then and there. But he knew he didn’t want to just kill the emperor he wanted to destroy him.
The emperor was impressed and after a few years he became the emperor’s advisor along with that fat fool Bey. Bey was always mumbling to himself, falling over things and generally making a fool of himself. Chen couldn’t figure out how he had graduated top of the class in the local school. He was further proof of the emperor’s stupidity a useless oaf who constantly carried a hunk of metal around his neck. Chen had once asked him what it does and Bey simple said it makes bad things disappear.
As Chen left the tree of life and returned to the city he looked at the countryside its people were poor and many of them were starving. The city of Barin was wealthy but the countryside was dying, high taxes were crippling the farmers. Chen knew that it was time for a change. His men had been assassinating key supporters of the emperor and destroying key buildings for weeks now and tonight the emperor would be assassinated. He had made sure that the emperor was guarded by two incompetent guards, an almost crippled old man and a boy who had newly join the guards. He would arrive only in time to avenge the emperor’s death, with Bey to witness this he would then step into the emperor’s place and restore order to the empire.
He arrived at the palace, met his assassins and told them to proceed with the plan. He followed them at a discrete distance and turned the corner to the throne room in time to see his second assassin get killed by the boy Guard.
“Bravo who knew that a child like you could actually kill two trained assassins?” Chen Said, “What a bother I guess I will have to kill the Emperor the hard way.”
As the boy went into a fighting crouch Chen drew his sword and with out stopping killed him and walked towards the throne room.
The emperor and Bey were talking and looked up at Chen who still had a blood covered sword in his hand.
“What is the meaning of this” the emperor said. Bey began backing away from the emperor.
“I was hoping we could avoid all this,” Chen said, “but due to an overly stubborn boy I am afraid I will be killing you myself. Before you die know that you may have defeated Kalor’s army but her soldiers fight on.”
“You’ll never get away with this the people of Barin will hunt you down” Said the emperor his voice had begun to quiver and lacked his usual authority.
“I don't think that they will, you see the way I saw it Bey killed you and I could only avenge your death” It was at this moment that Bey’s hunk of metal landed on the floor between the emperor and himself.
“It will take more than your lucky charm to stop me” was the last thing Chen ever said.