Journeyman Assassin

by Brian Keller

  By late evening, they’d drawn close enough to the city that they could almost distinguish individual buildings, and they probably could if it weren’t for the fact that daylight was fading. The Stand had been visible to the north a few hours before that. As they walked off the road several meters and piled wood to make a fire, several other people and families approached. Whether they were looking for food, warmth, or simply companionship, they were soon scattered by the shouts and angry gestures of Maro and Binru. When things had settled, Cooper asked, “Is this normal? Having people camped outside the city at night, like refugees?” He didn’t know, he’d never ventured to the edge of the city at night. Binru gave him an answer, “In Spring and Summer, there’s always a few folks here. Mostly lookin’ to follow farmers in to help ‘em sell their goods, or to follow ‘em home again hopin’ for work. This many folks though, that’s unusual. When we came through last week, there was almost a tent city gettin’ started here. There’s not so many now, so they must be findin’ somewhere to go. Maybe goin’ towards the coast, and stretchin’ out the borders of the Dregs or somethin’.” Maro had been listening and had nodded his agreement, “We’ll still need to keep one of us awake tonight. We can go in shifts. Either that, or we go back west a coupla miles and then everyone can sleep.” They almost unanimously opted to load up and go back to the west. Binru said he was tired of walking, but when the vote was in, he made no complaint as they loaded up and moved.

  In the grey, pre-dawn light of morning, they didn’t spend any time preparing food; they simply ate bread, meat and cheese as they walked. As they reached the spot where they’d originally planned to camp the previous night, Cooper looked around. There were only a couple of small tents for a few families here now, where there had been over a dozen the night before. The sun was just starting to reveal itself over the tops of the buildings when they began walking up the gentle slope into The Heights. The ocean breeze was already drifting through the city picking up the oh-so-recognizable odors before it reached their nostrils. Cooper lamented that while the odors were familiar, most of them were not pleasant.

  As they walked through the neighborhoods, everything looked the same. Carts and carriages were already on the move, taking owners and clients to their chosen destinations. As they passed from the Grid into the Trade Quarter, shops were already conducting business just as they always had. Cooper was looking for any sign or acknowledgement of all the deaths that he’d heard about, but nothing seemed different.

  They parted company with the men at the entrance to the Scribe’s storefront. Each clasped the boys’ hands, and Maro warned, “Be watchful, boys. There’s things goin’ on that no one can explain. It isn’t spillin’ over into the daylight far as I know… just be mindful.”

  The boys wished the men well and entered the Scribe’s shop. Even here things seemed unaffected as the boys walked through. No one greeted them, but no one stopped them either as they walked through into the Copyist’s Room. The boys hadn’t taken more than a couple steps into the room when all eyes turned from the chalkboard to examine them. Master Worthan’s voice could be heard from his position at the front of the classroom, “Welcome back, boys. Much has happened while you’ve been away. As you can see, I am currently engaged here. Come and see me during lunchtime today and we’ll see if we can’t find an opportunity to reminisce a little, hmm?” Cooper noticed that while his words were cheerful, the old Master’s eyes held a different tone. The boys assured him that they would, then Cooper realized that he had no idea where he should go next. He wasn’t even sure if ‘his bed’ was still his. Rather than disturb the class more than they already had, Cooper told Kolrem, “Let’s go check in with Master Loril. He doesn’t have a class, and he’ll likely be able to tell us what we should expect next and where we should go.” Kolrem replied, “Well, we can at least go drop off our stu-.. wait, do we still have our same rooms?” Cooper gave him a knowing look, “Exactly what I had wondered. Master Loril might know whatever may have changed while we’ve been away. And even if we assume that nothing has changed, and we go drop off our gear; where next? What are our classes?” Kolrem nodded in agreement, “Let’s go then. You’re the one that says Master Loril was a teacher, and he’s on the Council. As far as I ever knew, he’s just a smith.”

  When they entered the Quartermaster’s ‘store’, there was no one inside. This came as no surprise, but when Cooper didn’t hear the telltale ringing of a hammer hitting metal from the smithy he began to feel a sense of dread. Cooper couldn’t stop the thought from entering his head, “Surely Master Loril isn’t one of the Guild members that have been killed!” He quickened his pace and opened the door to the smithy. Master Loril’s assistant was stacking ingots, but Master Loril was nowhere to be seen. Cooper refused to acknowledge his fear, “Where’s Master Loril? I expected to find him here?” The assistance turned in response to Cooper’s question. He looked tired. “Master Loril has spent the last couple months assisting Mister Skran in the mornings. I’ve been left to tend the forge alone during those times.” Cooper felt relief wash over him and he grinned, “Thanks! We’ll go find him there!” As the boys turned to leave the assistant called out, “He’ll be glad to see you.”, he muttered something else but the boys had already left the room.

  The Training Room was filled with sparring students. There were easily forty students or more paired with each other, either practicing combinations or sparring. Cooper noticed at a glance that the class was divided in half, single blade combinations on one side, with Mister Skran’s head and shoulders visible as he moved amongst them and Master Loril towering over sparring students on the other.

  As soon as Cooper entered the room, Master Loril turned to face him. The large man didn’t speak a word, he simply smiled and acknowledged the boys with a nod before turning his attention back to the students. Mister Skran took a moment longer to notice them but when he did, he called out, “Stop! Rest in place and stretch for five minutes!”, then he and Master Loril walked directly towards them, deviating from their paths only enough to avoid stepping on students.

  Master Loril was the first to speak, “So! It appears that you’ve survived your camping trip with Utsef!” Mister Skran’s expression seemed to indicate that he was less than enthused with how Master Loril had started the conversation. This fact was not lost on Master Loril, who gave the smaller teacher a playful swat across the back of his shoulders, bringing a collective gasp from the students in the classroom. Master Loril continued as if he hadn’t heard them, “Aw, relax, Skran. Forest living isn’t for everyone!” With the ever-present hood concealing Mister Skran’s features, it was difficult to tell whether he’d had actually turned red, but his body language seemed to suggest that he had. Considering all he knew, Cooper now had to wonder whether a past evaluation from Utsef had something to do with Mister Skran becoming a combat instructor rather than an Assassin.

  Chapter 25

  Mister Skran’s words broke Cooper from his thoughts, “Welcome back. You’re here now. Either join the class and spar, or stop distracting my students.” Cooper looked at Kolrem. Kolrem shrugged, “We could..?” Cooper turned back to Master Loril, “We don’t know where we’re supposed to be, or if anyone’s expecting us. Do we even have a room assignment? Or do we return to our previous quarters?” Mister Skran growled slightly as he turned away. Master Loril gave them a rushed reply, “Your previous quarters house both Apprentice and Journeymen students, so wherever you fall now, your previous quarters should still be sufficient, assuming your beds have remained unoccupied. Go now, or stay and spar.” The man paused with a shrug, “Decide quickly, it is Skran’s classroom, after all.”

  The boys entered the classroom and dropped their packs between two of the straw dummies, then stepped further into the classroom and squared off. Cooper quickly closed on Kolrem, drawing his blades as he surged forward. Kolrem took a half step back and flung a small net, as Utsef had done to him months ago. Cooper had seen it far too many times and use
d the dagger in his left hand to sweep the net to one side without pausing. This caused Kolrem to tap into his Talent in order to draw his blades and meet Cooper’s advance. Their sudden flurry of movement and resulting ringing of steel on steel caused a minor stir amongst their fellow students. After a few minutes of them exchanging block for strike without a cessation of the clatter of blades colliding, Mister Skran called for another halt. As he approached the boys, he made it apparent that he’d noticed the netting on the floor and the darts and throwing knives secured to their wrists and belts. When he was within comfortable speaking distance he told the boys, “Perhaps, you should go and stow your gear, then return later today to join the Journeymen class. It is held from two until five daily. That is the same time as the Advanced Combat class was last year, but we’ve had to combine some classes in response to some recent changes.”

  Cooper went with Kolrem to see him settled, only to discover that all beds in his previous room had been occupied. Kolrem then followed Cooper to his room. When they walked into the room, there was no one there but it looked like Cooper’s space was still empty, so he moved back in. He checked Osrim’s cubicle to find it was empty as well. Cooper turned to Kolrem, “This was Osrim’s space. I don’t know how you feel about moving in here, with him being dead.” Kolrem shrugged, “It’s a little creepy, but I don’t think there’s a dark cloud hovering over his old bed or anything. If he’d died in his bed, then that’d be different.” As Kolrem dropped his belongings on the floor and started putting some things in the footlocker, Cooper began unpacking as well. Now his bow joined his ladder in the space under the bed. Once Cooper was unpacked he gave Kolrem a tour of the room, telling him who lived in each space, assuming they still lived there. As Cooper reached Aden’s space, he noticed Miss Camilla’s book and paints were beside his bed. He took a moment and paged through the book and saw that Aden had picked up where he’d left off. Aden’s paintings looked better than his, but still not as good as Miss Camilla’s.

  Neither of them knowing for sure how much longer they had until lunch time, they decided to simply lie down. Neither of them had slept in an actual bed since they’d been sent out of the city. As soon as Cooper’s back was completely flat, he realized that he might actually prefer his hammock. For the next forty minutes of so, he occupied his mind with thoughts of his last night in the city; of the hunting the Dregs boys all the way to getting the news that they were being sent away. He remembered half expecting to be killed in the room with raised platform, as he was surrounded by all those seated, shadowed figures.

  The sound of the lunch bell brought him out of his reverie. He almost wondered if he’d managed to fall asleep. As he stood up, Kolrem was already waiting at the door, “Let’s go! We’ll need to grab some food and get seated before we get surrounded and covered in questions about where we’ve been.”

  Kolrem’s description was fairly close to accurate. Cooper simply felt relieved that he saw most of the kids he knew. Of course, Loryn and Trea seemed to compete with each other to collect hugs from Cooper. Once Aden entered the dining hall and ran up to shake hands with both of them, Loryn stood next to Aden, so Trea won by default. Even Marna came over to greet him and to get introduced to Kolrem. Cooper added “Kolrem’s bed had been taken so he’s moved into Osrim’s old spot.” This brought the conversation to a momentary halt, but after having a moment to consider it, everyone seemed to accept it without distress. Cooper began looking around for Birt but he was nowhere to be seen. He turned to Aden and asked, “Where’s Birt?” Aden shrugged, “Probably still with Miss Eiler and Mister Ysel. Birt has at least a dozen personas now. It’s a wonder how he keeps them from intruding on each other.” Cooper thought he understood how, but a dozen would be a lot to juggle. Cooper hadn’t thought about it much while he’d been gone, but now that he was back he knew he’d need to get his mind back to developing Salder Varen. He’d need to speak with Mister Skran about learning to use a sword, just maybe not a full-sized sword, yet. Kolrem and Cooper learned that Dailen and Habbon had both been missing for a couple weeks. They were assumed dead. Cooper couldn’t help thinking that both boys had shown fair potential. Everyone wondered who could be behind the killings. It almost had to be more than one person. Cooper had concluded that either way there were certain circumstances that had to be true, the threat had to be skilled, using traps or poison, striking by surprise, or able to attack with enough force to overwhelm a trained fighter. Most likely some combination of all those factors. The part that had eluded Cooper suddenly seemed clear, “How would anyone know who to target and kill?”, he wondered. An Assassin could be drawn in with a false contract, but how were the students identified? Fortunately Cooper had mostly finished his lunch. The conclusion he’d reached took away his appetite, “A current or recently departed Guild member must be involved!”. Cooper and Kolrem finished lunch fairly quickly. They had somewhere they needed to be.

  Master Worthan was waiting for them. As they entered the classroom, the old man stood and spread his arms as if to embrace the space between them, “Welcome back, boys. I trust Utsef has educated you about the value of Nature? Now you should understand that a deep forest is a refuge, not a dungeon or wasteland. Did Utsef mention why you might have found yourself there, as his students?” Kolrem nodded, “Yes, sir. He said his only students were prospective Assassins. Is that what the Guild has planned for us?” Master Worthan’s face was impassive as he replied, “That is actually up to you. If you pass your tests, and excel at the course material and you have the desire, then the Guild will make you Assassins. But passing the courses is mostly up to you, and the desire is entirely up to you.” For Cooper, this didn’t require any thought or decision, it was something he’d always wanted. Though his reason for initially wanting it had perished with Egil, the desire remained even now.

  Master Worthan saw from the boys’ expressions that they’d each made the same decisions. He smiled faintly as he pushed a roll of paper to each boy, “Here are your new schedules.” Cooper unrolled his paper:

  8-10 Human Anatomy and Organ Systems – Miss Camilla

  10-12 Specialized Combat – Mister Skran

  1-3 Advanced Apothecary (M/W/F/Sa) Miss Camilla

  1-3 Metalworking & Application of Traps (T/T/Su) Master Loril

  3-5 Scenarios – Mister Ysel & Miss Eiler

  6-8 Advanced Movement – Master Brais (+)

  Cooper took a glance at Kolrem’s sheet. It was identical. Cooper grinned wryly, “Well, if we didn’t get enough of each other in the forest…” Kolrem looked at Cooper’s paper and scoffed, “You arranged for this, didn’t you?” Cooper shook his head and chuckled, “Oh sure, and I arranged for your old bed to be occupied so you’d have to move into the same room with me… I just can’t do without you… sound plausible?” When he finished speaking both Kolrem and Master Worthan were chuckling. Cooper then turned to the old man, “Sir, do we start this today? What day of the week is it? Are we going to Miss Camilla’s Lab or to Master Loril’s smithy?” Master Worthan slapped the top of his desk, “It starts later. Your teachers are not prepared for you today. The plan was to begin these courses about a month from now. At that time there will be a few other students joining you. In the meantime, I have an assignment for you outside the city. You should be back within a month.” Cooper couldn’t help asking, “Where, sir?” Master Worthan smiled, “Kalistos City.” Cooper’s eyes got big, “Kalistos, sir? Doing what?” The old man replied, “A message needs to be delivered.” Cooper couldn’t hide his disappointment and Master Worthan held up a hand. “You boys should be perfect for the task. You’ll need a Kalistos map, rations, and horses. You’ll ride there, then turn your horses over to the Guild in Kalistos. Deliver your message, collect your tip. I will say that again… Collect… Your... Tip. Then you’ll accompany several crates on your return trip.” Cooper appeared to be warming to the notion, “There’s a Guild in Kalistos? The trip is already getting more interesting.” Master Worthan wasn’t finished
, “It gets better. The cargo you’ll accompany on your return trip is coming here by ship.” Now Cooper was speechless.

  Master Worthan dismissed them to begin preparations. They were to return to him when they were ready to depart. Cooper waited until Kolrem was nearly out of the room before he turned back to master Worthan. He spoke quietly, “Sir, I’m sure you and the Guild Council have already thought of this, but there almost has to be someone from inside the Guild involved in the killings.” Master Worthan had been reaching to open one of the books on his table. He stopped and faced the boy, “And how have you reached this conclusion?” At first Cooper felt a little confused, he thought, “How can he not have thought of this!?”, then he realized Master Worthan was simply asking him to explain his method of deduction. He continued, “I understand how someone, or an organization, could target an Assassin using a false contract as a means to bring them somewhere; but how else would anyone know who the students are?” Master Worthan was shaking his head, “Cooper you are a bright, young boy. But you are discounting the Rule of Averages. You are assuming that all the dead or lost are ours. In the last several months there have been over two hundred known deaths or instances of people going missing. It stands to reason that a few of those would be ours. Although in the case of our Assassins, I’d say you’re absolutely right in the fact that they’ve been targeted, but not entirely in the manner you describe. However, that, by itself, does not imply that there is anyone within the Guild at fault. That is not to say that it couldn’t be, but it is not sufficient evidence to assume that it is.” The old man had scrutinized Cooper as he spoke these words. Cooper couldn’t be certain if this was to determine whether the boy understood the lesson in logic, or simply to judge his reaction. Cooper wasn’t finished, “But sir, if an Assassin were drawn in using a false contract, then if the clients were tracked down…?” Master Worthan nodded approvingly, “Yes. And it follows that these clients would have information about who is behind the killings, except that all of them now are numbered among the mysterious dead or missing.” This information brought Cooper up short. He commented wryly, “Well, sir. I felt sure that the Guild was already ahead of me. Glad to see that I was right about that, at least.” The old man looked proud, “You continue to put your mind against this problem all you like. The more heads we have pondering this, the better. But, for the next thirty days, you’ll be pondering from somewhere outside the city. Now, off with you. We both have things to do.”