Journeyman Assassin

by Brian Keller

  She put a hand on his shoulder. It felt odd that someone could touch him and he not feel the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand out. He was impressed that with all the dread and impending remorse that she was feeling, Miss Camilla still had the willingness to help him. She assured him, “I will speak with Master Brais and learn how the Guild plans to respond to this, and how you might be included.” He nodded and thanked her, adding, “That’s the best that I could expect. It might help to mention that I’m the only one that knows which one is Egil…?” As he turned to leave her voice caught him, “And don’t go out on your own thinking that you know better than the Masters Council. This is Guild business now. Regardless of your personal feelings.” He didn’t turn back to look at her. He simply moved his head in a single, stiff nod.

  It would be time for breakfast soon enough but he didn’t feel like sitting still, even though breakfast was his favorite meal. He considered walking to the Training Room and express his frustrations on Mister Strawman. He knew better than to try confronting Egil and his crew, and no solution presented itself as to how he might get Egil alone. Even then, with such a developed Earth Talent, Egil only needed to connect with one solid strike and Cooper would be reeling, whereas Cooper had to be effective on both attack and defense all the time. Perhaps it would be best to do as Miss Camilla instructed and wait for the Council’s decision.

  The remainder of the day passed with Cooper in a distracted state. He evidently performed well enough that he didn’t draw undue attention to himself, but at the end of dinner if anyone asked him to describe his classes earlier in the day, he’d be hard pressed to present an accurate account. In fact, the only things he could remember with any clarity was that Miss Camilla seemed to be observing him more closely during her class, and during Combat Training Kolrem had said, “I sure am glad that I can move faster if I need to. You aren’t really trying to hurt me, are you?” Cooper felt ashamed since there were several instances when he had been visualizing Egil, rather than acknowledging Kolrem, as his opponent. Cooper resumed his concentration properly after that, but it really didn’t make him feel much better.

  After dinner, he’d needed distract himself until it was time to meet Evan and Rukle. Miss Camilla had loaned him a book about plants for him to copy. He busied himself with that task for a couple of hours and then made his way to the Guild rooftop to join his classmates.

  Once there, Evan told the boys, “Master Brais told me that the Council of Masters had made a decision but wanted to make sure this wasn’t an isolated incident before reacting to it. Master Brais has instructed us to observe and inform him if the activity continues.” Cooper could feel his irritation rising but calmed himself. He would need to concentrate tonight, and he couldn’t do that unless he remained in control. He told Evan, “I know where at least one of them lives, in the Dregs. The surest way to observe them is to find them as they leave their House. Tonight we might already be too late for that, they might already have started.” Evan nodded, “That’s true, but lead us there and we can begin searching for them.”

  The shadowy trio found Egil and his crew before reaching the House in the Dregs. They had an old man held to the ground while delivering a few kicks. They might not have even heard them except that the man’s family had started yelling. By the time the boys arrived and were in a concealed spot to observe most of the beating had stopped. The man’s son was unconscious and two girls were struggling to drag him up onto the cobblestone steps leading to their door. The boys could still hear one of the ladies yelling from inside, something about having no money since these boys had robbed them only four days ago. Another boy ran in from a side street and waved vigorously at Egil, then gave them several violent shoo-ing gestures. He then ran back the way he’d come. Egil gave a low whistle and swept his arm in a wide gesture as if to say, ‘gather up and let’s go’. He then scooped up a burlap bag and moved off into a space between two buildings. The boys ran off in two small groups. Evan gave a hand sign indicating that he’d follow one group and Cooper and Rukle should follow the other. He then pointed at Cooper and gave him a warning glare. Cooper gave him a nod in return. As he turned to leave with Rukle he was thinking, “Why does everyone just assume I’m going to try and kill him?” Though to be honest, if he thought he could, he would’ve done it already.

  Cooper didn’t ignore the fact that Evan followed Egil’s small group, though he felt pretty sure that Evan didn’t even know which boy was Egil. Cooper quickly caught up with Rukle and they moved carefully but kept the boys in sight. The boys only ran a few hundred yards before slowing and changing direction to rejoin Egil and the rest. Within a few minutes the small group was back together and moving to a new part of the neighborhood. It took a few more minutes but as they moved along the three Guild boys identified each other and kept pace. As the Dreg’s boys began working on their next victims, Evan rejoined Rukle and Cooper and, in a low, hushed tone said, “Ok. We’ve confirmed that this isn’t just an isolated thing. We can just stop now and report to Master Brais. This crew is hurting people and the merchants will start to believe that it’s the Guild doing it. The Council will have to act.” Rukle gave a nod and Cooper shifted his position to follow Evan.

  It took them less than fifteen minutes to reach the Guild rooftop and within twenty they were standing in front of Master Brais. As Evan relayed what the boys had seen, Rukle or Cooper would occasionally add an additional detail that they had observed. When Master Brais dismissed the boys, Cooper went back out to resume the surveillance. He knew that if Evan went back to the room to go to bed, he’d surely notice that Cooper wasn’t there. He might become curious enough to come out and look for him. “That would be just fine.”, Cooper thought, “I’m just going out to look, anyway.”.

  It took a little while to find the boys but in less than an hour he’d slipped onto a balcony where he could observe them without being seen. As the Dreg’s boys collected a few more coins from a reluctant victim, Egil picked up his bag and announced that they were done collecting for the night. He explained that he’d meet with them later since he still had an errand to complete. Cooper couldn’t help but feel his ears perk up at this. He clenched his jaw as he reminded himself that he was there simply to observe. He couldn’t be sure what his punishment might be if he ignored that order, but surely it couldn’t be pleasant. In fact, he was pretty sure he was breaking several rules just being out alone. “If nobody knew that I wanted Egil dead, then I might be able to get away with it. All this is much too visible now. I can only follow and watch.” One of the Dregs boys asked Egil about his errand, “What are you doing that’s so important? Maybe we want in on it?” Egil shook his head, “There’s a certain little tramp expecting me, and I don’t wanna share.” Several of the boys jostled each other roughly and the brief chorus of laughter almost concealed a few comments, “Hey, I wanna come along”, “what’s her name?”, and “how come you only mention this now?” Egil gave them a gesture as if to say, ‘Go on. Go home’ and then turned north and started walking. Cooper followed. He took much more care to keep himself concealed than he had been. As a result, he soon fell behind and needed to hurry a little in order to keep Egil in sight. He had a few moments of indecision when he got close enough to watch Egil cross the Whitefoam into the Waterfront District and then turn towards Batter’s Field. Cooper had to let Egil get further ahead. There was almost no way to cross the Whitefoam unobserved. As Egil approached Batter’s Field, Cooper saw that the older boy had started walking more carefully, holding to the shadows more than he had been and stopping from time to time to look around him. “At least he’ll be moving slower now. I may have some time to catch back up.”, he thought as he briskly stepped out in the direction of the bridge. He had pushed his hood back and tried for a slightly disoriented walk. Not drunk, just tipsy. A little odd for a boy his age, but if he were a tavern boy who’d been sampling the wares and now needed to find his way home… believable. It allowed him to appear unsteady and give
him an excuse to rush a few steps before seeming to catch himself and walk normally. The guard paid him no attention. Once he’d crossed and was back in the shadows, he pulled his hood back up and increased his pace. By the time he’d passed four buildings he’d spotted Egil again. The fact that Egil had stopped walking almost caused Cooper to get closer than he really wanted. The Dregs boy stared at a building. A little over a year ago, when Cooper still lived in Batter’s Field, this was one of the ‘rival’ Houses. Cooper suspected that several of his former ‘siblings’ likely came to this House seeking refuge after Skaiven was killed. As Cooper was mentally sidestepping to avoid a stroll down memory lane, Egil moved quietly toward the House, crept up and checked the door latch, and then slipped over to one of the open windows. He leaned up against the side of the House, under the window and pulled two bottles from the bag he’d brought along. Egil flung those bottles through the open window and, upon hearing the sounds of glass breaking, he hustled over to the door, pulled it open and hurled another jug inside and upwards, to shatter against the ceiling. He quickly slammed the door closed and sprinted away. Cooper had to withdraw further into the shadows as Egil ran within five steps of his hiding place and stopped. He turned to observe the House and listen to the sounds as they reached their ears. Cooper could hear the sound of rock crunching under Egil’s shoes but soon the only thing he could hear was the ruckus in the House. Noises of people waking up, scrambling, furniture being shoved and then silence. Egil waited without moving for about a minute, then turned, took a breath as he rolled his shoulders, and began walking back towards the river.

  Cooper waited until Egil was well away, then got up to investigate. As he opened the door to the House, a sharp odor assaulted his nose. He exhaled forcibly as he backed away. Everyone that he could see in the darkness was laying still. There were no noises coming from anyone. No snoring or mumbling or sleep talking. Just a few minutes earlier everyone had been awakened and active. Had Egil just poisoned an entire House? There were usually a dozen kids in a House, almost never less than eight, plus the House Father. It appeared that Egil had just committed mass murder! He’d tossed in bottles of poison that had killed everyone inside, as casually as Cooper had delivered messages a few months ago. Cooper’s vision started to blur and his thoughts started to jumble together. He knew he needed to get further away from the House but that seemed to be the only thought he could hold in his head. He blew his nose into his sleeve as he stumbled back to the spot where he’d hidden as he’d watched Egil fling the poison into the House. As he slumped against the building and slid to the ground, he wondered how much of the poison he’d just taken in.

  He didn’t know how much time had passed but once his thoughts became clearer, he took stock of the situation. He knew Miss Camilla would want a sample of the poison, but he didn’t know if he could safely collect any. He would just have to go and wake her, let her know what had just happened and let her decide how to proceed. He’d need to hurry. Something would need to be done before some hapless City Guard patrol came across this and stumbled in, unaware of the danger.

  Chapter 11

  Soon, Cooper was banging on Miss Camilla’s door. He knew she wouldn’t appreciate being awakened so abruptly but he figured he’d be forgiven in due course once she knew the reason for it. He heard no noises from inside but in seconds the door was opened abruptly and a bleary-eyed Miss Camilla stood before him. Her eyes focused on him quickly as she grumbled, “You’d better have an excellent reason for this, Cooper.” He was holding his palms towards her in a placating gesture, “I do, Miss. Please get dressed and I can explain as we go.” He wouldn’t have believed her capable of growling, but she was. “Oh, you’ll tell me now. Right now. And it better be good.” Cooper spouted the explanation quicker than he thought he could, “The poison, Miss. I know where there’s a lot of it. But it’s out. A whole House in Batter’s Field is dead, and I don’t know how to collect a sample without dying.” Miss Camilla’s eyes went wide, she stepped back inside her room and closed the door in his face. He could hear some muffled sounds from inside and in less than thirty seconds the door was flung open again. Miss Camilla had her smock draped over her and she was tying a sash across her waist. She was still wearing her robe underneath. She ran across the hall and pounded on a door. It was the same door Cooper had knocked on when he’d been trying to find Miss Camilla’s room a few months ago. Between knocks she was calling out, “Anson. Anson! Get up! It’s Camilla! Get up!” The door was pulled open revealing a wild-eyed young man wearing boxers. “Camilla! What is it? What’s wrong?” Her reply came out in a rush, “Get Felis. Tell him I need him to meet me at my Lab. It’s urgent. You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t. Go!” Anson took off at a run, either oblivious or uncaring that he was still only wearing boxer shorts.

  She turned back to Cooper, grabbed a handful of his cloak and began jogging, “Come on. We need to gather some supplies.” Cooper had no trouble keeping up, but it became easier once she’d finally released her hold on his cloak.

  In the Lab, she grabbed a large satchel and a small backpack. She thrust the backpack towards him and instructed, “There are many tiny pockets and sleeves sewn into the interior of that bag. Fill them with the vials from the two racks there.” She pointed to a cabinet standing behind her workstation. He rushed over to the cabinet, gently opened it, and carefully went about following her instructions. Miss Camilla was busy elsewhere. At one point he heard the sound of breaking glass and her cursing quietly. He’d added nearly all the vials to the bag when he heard Felis’ voice, “This must be something truly important, or truly risky. I thought we were no longer on speaking terms, Camilla?” Miss Camilla paused long enough to forcefully let out a breath, “It is both, Felis; and all is forgiven after tonight. A House has been poisoned. Cooper knows the details. I just need samples and we need to try and control the damage.” Felis replied almost immediately, “Does the Council know?” Miss Camilla’s voice could be clearly heard though she was facing away, digging through an open box, “About the poison, yes. About tonight’s poisoning, no…. Regardless, we have no time, and they’ve asked me to try and solve this for them. If they don’t like my methods, they can summon me to discuss it….afterward”. Felis chuckled, “Fair enough.” he turned to Cooper, “Where are we going? And what should we expect?” Cooper summarized the events as briefly and quickly as he could, including his concerns about things he didn’t know such as Guard patrol schedules, how to gather samples, and the unknown number of people killed. Felis listened intently, nodding occasionally to acknowledge something of particular note. Once he was satisfied he had enough background he turned to face Camilla, “Anything I can do to help? What else do you need?’ Camilla stood up from the box and turned to face him, “A grappling hook and rope. Got that?” Felis smiled and tapped a collection of cords wrapped around his waist. Cooper had thought it was some kind of belt. Miss Camilla raised an eyebrow, “Do you sleep with all that on?” Felis chuckled, “Careful. It was that kind of talk that led you to banish me from your circle of friends.”

  Miss Camilla seemed satisfied that they had what they needed. Almost as an afterthought she picked up a large paintbrush and a jar of black paint and added them to the bag. They left the Guild house in silence, but once they were outside Felis spoke briefly, “Camilla, I just want to say that I’m worried about Garoth, too. I’ve neglected my duties for the last two days because I’ve been looking for him. I don’t know all his hiding places, but I do know several of them.” Camilla didn’t say anything, she just nodded and gave him a squeeze on the arm.

  As they approached the bridge to cross into the Waterfront District, the guard actually turned away to look elsewhere. In fact, he seemed to make it a point to look everywhere except in their direction. Cooper had to wonder, “How does that work?”

  A few minutes later, Cooper gathered them into the same shadowed area that he’d hidden in earlier. He pointed at the House. Camilla placed a hand on his shoulder,
“I need you to stay here. I’ll likely be in enough trouble as it is. I don’t need something bad happening to you too.” Cooper grumbled but nodded. Felis leaned in, “You can keep your eyes and ears open. We don’t really want to be interrupted, but we certainly don’t want to be surprised.” Felis looked at Miss Camilla, who gave him a nod of agreement. Then the two Adepts left the shadows and moved towards the House. Felis stood near Camilla, looking in all directions, once he was satisfied that they weren’t being observed he relaxed his observation, albeit only slightly, and would occasionally take a glance at Camilla to gauge her progress. Camilla approached the House warily. She crept up to one of the windows, the one that Egil had stood next to and thrown the vials inside. Camilla stood up and tried to see through the darkness. She then looked over her shoulder at Felis, “Any truth to the myth that you can see in the dark?” Felis shrugged, “I can probably see better than most, but I’m sure the rumors are exaggerated. They usually are. Why do you ask?” She made a noise of frustration then added, “Because I can hardly see anything inside.” He slipped over to the window and took a glance around, “Several people laying on the floor. A table has been shoved against the wall and some chairs are tipped over. That’s all I can see. There isn’t enough light for me to get details.” She spoke quietly and briefly, “I don’t know enough about this poison. If it’s powdered, and still in the air then it could get in the eyes, ears, or nose and if exposed to enough of it, it might kill whether it’s breathed or not.”. She paused for a moment before she continued, “I need to try and get samples, but I don’t want to die trying. Watch out for me.” Felis nodded, his expression grave. He walked over to the door and opened it slowly. She was thinking, “From Cooper’s description of how things happened there should be shards of the vial on the floor just a couple steps inside the doorway.” She crouched down low and leaned in, trying to see anything she could. She caught herself wondering, “How can I expect to see pieces of shattered glass in the dark? They are difficult enough to spot in full daylight unless light reflects off of them!” She stepped back away from the door and turned back to Felis, “What about the grappling hook? Can you catch hold of someone or something in there and drag it to us? None of us should go inside, I’m convinced of that.” Felis started unwinding the cord from his waist, “We can try that. This grappling hook isn’t really designed to work that way, but it should do for what you’re asking.” The first two attempts the hook wouldn’t catch hold of anything. Miss Camilla was getting frustrated, “I thought that thing was a hook?!” Felis shrugged, “It is, but it’s designed to catch an edge and hold my weight. You’re thinking of the style that you find on ships, used for hooking onto a nearby ship and holding it fast. The kind pirates and soldiers use. Each of those hooks weigh eight to ten pounds… or more. I don’t have one of those on me. We could try sending Cooper to steal one. The waterfront’s right over there.” he gestured east with a nod of his head as he coiled up his cord to make another cast.” Miss Camilla appeared mollified, “Fine. You’ve made you’re point. Keep trying.” After a few more futile attempts, Felis’ hook caught something and he pulled out a chair. Miss Camilla immediately pulled on gloves and began wiping a cloth over all the surfaces of the chair. It was too dark to tell whether any significant amount of powder had been collected but she wrapped the scrap of cloth in a sheet of parchment and bound the bundle with a short length of string. Cooper had become intent on watching the proceedings but he still noticed the pair of guards approaching. He burst from the shadows and covered the distance to the two Adepts quickly, “Guards! Guards coming! Follow me!” Felis helped Miss Camilla to her feet while he kicked the chair back through the door, closing the door behind it. He gently pushed Camilla ahead of him as they followed Cooper around the corner and into the shadow of the building. Cooper continued around the back side of the House. Camilla quietly asked Cooper a couple questions while they waited for the guards to pass. “Do you know about this area? When do people start waking up around here?” Cooper was nodding, “I used to live a couple blocks that way.” he pointed northeast as Felis chuckled, “I remember that.” An expression similar to recognition flashed across Miss Camilla’s face, “That’s right! You two have already met, haven’t you?” she chuckled lightly. Felis chuckled as well, “You could say that. It’s good of you to acknowledge that I haven’t killed everyone I meet.” Cooper replied to each of them, “I can say now that I’m certainly glad about my introduction to Felis, especially the part about living through it.”, he then faced Miss Camilla, “and we have about an hour, maybe a little longer, before people start waking up. A lot of sailors live here, even though this isn’t the Waterfront. Soon they’ll be moving toward the docks, blacksmiths will start stoking forges, vendors will begin stocking their carts to take to the Trade Quarter, and suchlike.”