Assassin Adept

by Brian Keller

  As Cooper returned to the Guild, Master Worthan was at his desk in the Copyist’s Room, watching as the first year students were making copies of their textbook. Cooper approached the old man’s desk and leaned in towards him. He quietly related the stories he’d been told by Chesim and his family. Master Worthan listened intently, nodding periodically without taking his eyes off the students. When Cooper finished speaking, Master Worthan turned to face him and replied, “This corroborates many of the reports we’ve received from our beggars in Batter’s Field and Waterfront neighborhoods. Many of the unshackled are families that help form the temporary tent cities on the outskirts of the city, looking for work, or charity.” It took some effort for Cooper to keep his voice quiet, “But sir, what about those people being brought in on ships? Wouldn’t those be the slaves you were talking about? They must be getting smuggled in from Lukasi. And why are people being taken into the Ruins in the first place?” Master Worthan scrutinized him for a moment before he replied, “Devote your time and attention to your studies. Thank you for providing this information, but be satisfied by leaving this matter with me.” The tone of his voice left little doubt that the topic closed. As Cooper left the classroom he couldn’t stop wondering about the possible reasons behind bringing people into the Ruins. Could Jarell be building something? Or digging? For what other purposes might he need all those people?

  Over the next several weeks, Master Worthan was true to his word. The Analysis class went into far more depth than Cooper could’ve imagined; discussing how to correctly dissect the target on paper in order to accurately assess the vulnerabilities. Then once that information was in place, the next steps were to decide which vulnerabilities were the most suitable, depending on the effect desired. Cooper became especially fond of observing for factors that could be turned back on the target, or be exploited in such a way as to turn enemies against each other. In such a case, it might only be necessary to arrange the conditions, then initiate the action and simply step away to observe the resulting cascade effect. Master Worthan noticed his interest and began to use examples that required a study of human nature or a cause-and-effect approach, where the plan might involve three or four layers. Master Worthan called this a “Ripple Effect”. The old man might not have recited a certain quote every class, but it became common enough that every student in the room learned to recognize it even before it was fully spoken, “Killing or destruction might not create the desired effect. Assassins are used for more than just killing.” Cooper had experienced a similar perspective in Master Darius’ classes on Traps. Sometimes the triggering of a trap wasn’t necessary. If fear or paranoia was the desired effect, then the simple discovery of an obviously placed trap, or series of traps, could create that without ever being activated.

  Chapter 9

  That evening Master Brais referred several students to Evan as he gathered Cooper, Kolrem and their classmates from Master Worthan’s class. Once they were gathered, he explained what was expected of them, “Tonight we will conduct a static surveillance task. Observation only. No one will attack, fight, or kill anyone except in defense if you are discovered. Consider this a graded event. If you are discovered, my assessment of your performance will be low. Our target is a warehouse in the Waterfront district. Perhaps you’ll have naught to report but a few drunks staggering past, but time will tell. We’ll approach together until we’re close enough for me to point out your positions. Once you’re all there, I’ll go inside. No one else should come inside unless you hear sounds of fighting. At that point, I’ll leave it to your own discretion whether you choose to enter and assist me or remain in position to observe.”

  As they approached the ropes Cooper made a quick count, there were eleven of them in all. Just a few minutes later they were all on the rooftop and moving north. After a few blocks, once they’d passed the cordon of soldiers, Master Brais dropped down to ground level and turned east, towards the coast. They’d nearly reached the boardwalk when Master Brais told the boys, “Wait here. I need to confirm something. I’ll be back in just a minute or two.” The instructor turned and jogged north past a few buildings and then turned east and disappeared from view. As the boys waited, most of them counting to themselves to account for passing seconds, a few of them shifted so they had vantage points. Just over a minute later Master Brais stepped around a nearby corner and gestured for them to join him saying, “Keep up.” He walked quickly along the boardwalk but at a point about a block south of the Whitefoam River, he walked to the edge of the boardwalk and dropped over the side. The boys ran to the edge and saw that Master Brais had slid down a rope and was standing in a longboat holding the rope steady for the next person to descend and join him. There was one man seated at the rear of the boat holding a lantern, which faintly illuminated the boat. Another man was positioned at the prow. He held a pole and was looking north along the waterline. There were six men in the center, three on each side, with oars. Master Brais was gesturing for them to move quickly. Less than a minute later all the boys were feeling the boat rocking beneath their feet. Master Brais sat in the center and the boys followed suit. He then nodded to the man at the aft, who then closed the shields on the lantern, plunging them into darkness as he called out in a hushed, raspy voice, “Awright, let’s go.” The six men with oars began to paddle. Cooper turned to face their direction of travel. The man at the prow would periodically push his pole in the water, either to test the depth or to push something out of the way. The sounds of the oars entering and leaving the water was indiscernible from the sounds of ripples lapping against the pylons that held up the boardwalk. As they approached the point where the Whitefoam poured into the bay, the sounds of water flowing easily drowned out any sounds of paddling. The men picked up their pace and the man at the fore drew in his pole. Once they’d passed the river, they paddled away from the water’s edge and into more open water. In the dim moonlight, Cooper could distinguish the vague shape of the boats and ships lashed together to form the Wharf City. Their longboat made its way to a fishing boat that was moored near the land side of the Wharf City. As they approached, the man at the fore pulled up a whistle he had on a chain around his neck and blew a haunting note from it. The silhouette of a man’s head and shoulders promptly appeared over the side of the boat above and answered the whistle with a short “chirp”. A rope ladder made a sharp clattering noise as the wooden rungs hit the side of the boat as it unrolled. The last few rungs floated on the surface of the bay. The men deftly maneuvered the longboat alongside and Master Brais quickly stood and took hold of the ladder, then turned to the boys, “Everybody up.” For Cooper, being on the water brought back pleasant memories. As he turned to mention this to Kolrem. It was plain from Kolrem’s expression that his sentiments weren’t shared. Kolrem’s experiences at sea had been rather different from Cooper’s. Master Brais handed a pouch to the man seated at the aft of the longboat and they clasped hands. The teacher then quickly ascended the ladder and joined the rest of them on the deck.

  As soon as the boys were gathered, Master Brais pointed out the direction of the warehouse. The dim light and very light fog prevented anyone from seeing the building clearly but at least they all now knew the general location. Their teacher pointed at two of the boys, “You and you will find observation points at the water’s edge, near the end of the wharf.” He then turned to face the entire group, “Everyone needs to return to the guild two hours before dawn, regardless of whether I come out to lead you back or not.” Several of the oarsmen had climbed the ladder behind them. One of them spoke, “We’ve heard rumors about things going on over there. If you get into trouble, escape back this way. The transport and protection you’ve paid for lasts until morning light.” Several of the men nodded their assent. They all had a hard glint in their eyes and a firm set to their jaws. Master Brais thanked them but added, “We’re only here to observe. It shouldn’t come to that.” With that, he left the boat and began walking north along the pier. The boys followed close b
ehind.

  As they approached, Master Brais pointed out buildings to the east and west. Cooper was the boy sent to the eastern location. He found a suitable location in the shadow of a chimney stack and settled in. About ten minutes later, from his vantage point Cooper saw Master Brais silhouetted against the starry sky as he moved across the roof. He lifted a skylight and soundlessly dropped inside the warehouse. Minutes turned into hours and nothing appeared to be happening except for the expected night time traffic along the Waterfront; a City Watch patrol every hour or so, several drunken dock workers, sailors and fishermen staggering either to wherever they called home or to the next bar. In the small hours of the morning, sometime between two and three, a group of five men appeared from the walkway on the south side of the building. They stopped at the door to the warehouse and took a few minutes to examine the doorway before opening the door and going inside. Cooper listened intently for any sounds indicating that Master Brais had been discovered. The sounds of the Waterfront night remained unchanged, at least for several minutes. About seven or eight minutes after the men entered Cooper heard what sounded like a woman’s voice repeatedly crying out “No” in rapid succession. After almost half of a minute, the pitch and intensity of her voice raised to a scream which cut off sharply and all was silent again. Shortly afterward, three men exited from the warehouse and they departed along the same path that the previous men had entered. Seconds later, Master Brais exited from the skylight. He paused on the rooftop and pointed to several of the boys and indicated they follow him. Cooper followed him northwest. They were following the three men towards Batter’s Field. The boys kept a fir space between themselves, almost in a fan shape behind Master Brais. There would be moments when their teacher would approach close enough that he undoubtedly was able to hear any conversation, provided that the men were talking at that moment. The men would periodically pause and look around them. Apparently they were concerned about being followed. Cooper wondered how they’d feel if they discovered that they were being closely followed by no fewer than six people. After fifteen minutes of walking, the men entered a ramshackle hovel. Once inside, several of the shuttered windows rattled indicating that the men were confirming that they were secured inside. Master Brais paused at a nearby building and studied his surroundings to make sure he’d pinpointed their location. He then made eye contact with each of the boys and led them back to the warehouse in the Waterfront. Once there, he placed the boys in their previous positions and then went to confer with one of the boys hidden at the end of the pier. After that, he found an observation point of his own where he watched for several minutes before venturing forth to enter the building yet again.

  An hour later, Master Brais emerged a second time and gave the boys a sign indicating they were returning to the Guildhouse. They gathered at the north end of the south bridge in the Waterfront and crossed the bridge as a group. The City Watchman made a show of ignoring them as they passed.

  Once across the bridge, Kolrem stepped in close to walk beside Cooper, “What do you suppose that was all about?” Cooper considered for a moment before replying, “If I had to guess, that warehouse is where Jarell holds a group of slaves until he moves them. Someone has to watch over them and feed them. I suspect we just witnessed a shift change and Master Brais wanted to determine where the rest of the men were staying.” Kolrem grunted his assent, then added, “What about the woman screaming?” Cooper shrugged, “Men have needs. Men in their position can simply take what they want.” Kolrem fell silent. He seemed to take some time mulling over Cooper’s suspicions, “You’re probably right, but that’s simply no way for one person to treat another.” Cooper shrugged again, “I can understand it without agreeing with it. Given the opportunity, I’d see all those men dead; but that’s not why we went there tonight.” Kolrem was muttering something about being “quick enough to kill those boys from the Dregs and get us sent off to the forest” before he was silenced by a hiss from Master Brais.

  Once they’d re-entered the Arena, Master Brais told the boys, “Very good work. All of you. I will go now to report our findings to the Council. You should each go to your bays and get a couple hours of sleep before breakfast. If I am asked any questions that I can’t answer, I may come find whichever of you that I think might know. Other than that, I’ll expect that you all keep your observations to yourselves. Tomorrow, during your class with Master Worthan, feel free to discuss any events amongst yourselves and with him. If he asks any questions of you, answer him as completely as you can.” As the boys were leaving the Arena they heard Master Brais call out, “Expect tonight to be more of the same. You might consider taking a nap today if you have the opportunity.”

  Chapter 10

  Master Worthan did have questions for them. He asked one of the older boys to relate his version of events. He was one of the two boys positioned at the end of the pier. When the boys had finished, Master Worthan asked for a show of hands of those that followed Master Brais to the ‘bunkhouse’. Cooper raised his hand but Master Worthan called on one of the other boys to give his account of what he observed. When he finished his tale, Master Worthan asked if anyone had anything else to add. He was looking directly at Cooper. Cooper raised his hand slightly and received a nod from Master Worthan to proceed. Cooper cleared his throat and spoke, “The three men we followed would check to see if anyone was following them. As far as I could tell they never noticed us; or if they did, they never reacted to us. I’m certain Master Brais was able to give you a more thorough accounting, but it seemed to me that at least one of the men, either someone leaving or one of the new arrivals, likely raped one of the women inside. I wasn’t aware that anyone else was inside except these men until I heard the woman crying out.” Master Worthan gave him a long look, “And what might we deduce from that?” Cooper shrugged, “The main thing I’d deduce is that these men don’t care who knows that they’re holding people inside the warehouse. Anyone passing by would’ve heard it. That means they either control the nearby area, or they’ve paid the Watch to leave them alone.” Master Worthan reached up to stroke his beard and asked, “So what does that mean to us?” Cooper had to think for a moment, then replied, “That would mean that the Watch is either aware of the activities and are being paid directly, or they think it’s the Guild and they leave it alone since they’ve already been paid.” Master Worthan chuckled, “Well, that’s not exactly the point I was making but that is likely a fair assessment nonetheless.” This left Cooper wondering what the old man had been thinking but he had already turned and begun drawing three large, interlocking circles on the board. He labeled them ‘Supply’, ‘Transport’ and ‘Demand’. Below those words he wrote ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’, in that order. He then turned to the boys and added, “Taken down to it’s most basic components, how do we classify this? As a business or as an organization?” Cooper couldn’t help to think that it displayed aspects of both. It had all the earmarks of a business, but if the business were taken apart, then the organization might still exist; whereas the opposite was unlikely to be the case. It all came down to the desired effect, and Cooper voiced that opinion. Most of the class had been murmuring “Business” as if to determine the answer by a consensus. When Cooper spoke, everyone fell silent. Master Worthan smiled beneath his beard and asked Cooper to elaborate. He then explained that it might be possible to dismantle the business and then absorb the infrastructure of the organization but regardless of their choice, without the organization the business would fall apart by default. If the business were attacked, the organization might be destroyed collaterally, but it might also dissolve only to reappear elsewhere at a later time. The resulting murmur seemed to indicate that Cooper had made a valid argument. This consensus was confirmed when Master Worthan smiled and replied, “You make several good points, young sir. Now, can you accurately dissect the organization and display it within the confines of this diagram?” Cooper shook his head, “Not entirely, sir. We.. well, I don’t know enough abo
ut it. Besides, your labels pertain more aptly to a business rather than an organization.” Master Worthan nodded, “True, on both counts. Since we have incomplete information on the organization, let us satisfy ourselves with analyzing the business aspects. Perhaps it will help us refine some of the specific points of which we are most ignorant.” He turned again to face the board as one of the older students spoke up, “Sir, I disagree that we should label ourselves as ignorant!” Master Worthan paused and turned his head to look over his shoulder and asked, “Why should that disturb you?” The boy stopped himself from scoffing, but only just, “Isn’t that just another word for ‘stupid’?...Sir?” Master Worthan turned back to face the class and set his stick of chalk on his table. He initially replied with the simple word, “No.” He took a breath and then elaborated, “None of you in this room is stupid. You could not have advanced this far within the Guild if you were. Yet all of us are ignorant.” He raised a hand to quiet the reproach he felt certain was coming and continued, “Ignorance is what exists in the absence of knowledge. Stupidity is what exists despite what is taught or known.” Some of the students seemed unable to sift through his words to get to his meaning, so he clarified, “Ignorance simply means someone hasn’t yet been taught. Stupidity implies an inability to learn, despite any attempts at teaching. Ignorance is generally specific to a topic, or group of topics, or a multitude of topics. Stupidity is specific to the individual.” Cooper could find no fault in that description. However, it felt disconcerting to wonder whether ‘poor judgement’ might somehow equate with ‘stupid’.