Mage Assassin

by Logan Jacobs

  “You what?” I pressed as the boy nervously wrung his hands.

  “I only wanted to listen a bit,” he mumbled. “I know I shouldn’t be eavesdropping, and the Master told me not to eavesdrop so much, but I do sometimes.”

  “Did you hear who else was in there?” I eagerly asked.

  “No, like I said, I was getting the swords out,” Elis continued. “Then I crept along the hall when I noticed the shouting, but I wasn’t quite there when the shouting stopped right away. I stayed outside for a little bit, and I didn’t hear anything, so I thought I’d knock, and the Master didn’t open the door or answer. So, I… I opened the door, and…”

  The boy scrunched his eyes closed, and I patted him on the shoulder as I sighed.

  It wasn’t nearly as much information as I was hoping for, but I knew there was always more to discover in these sorts of things. I refused to let a single lead go cold, and the need to avenge our Master’s death burned in my gut.

  If it wasn’t for the Master, then there would have been no estate at all. Who knew what kind of lives we all would have led if we didn’t have him to house us, clothe us, and teach us everything we knew. Master Abbot gave us more than wealth, he gave us strength, knowledge, power, and intelligence, and he provided an essential and dangerous service to all of Ocadia for longer than I knew.

  No man like that could be murdered without retaliation, and I wouldn’t fail him now, not even after his passing.

  “When did this all happen?” I asked Elis. “You said it was early?”

  “About an hour after you left,” the boy replied. “Really early this morning.”

  “What?” I gasped, and I wondered if all of this somehow aligned with the trap I’d walked into at the Ardere of Ignis.

  “Then we were all alerted,” a voice murmured from the entryway of the outdoor training ground.

  I turned around to see Mazne, Spodium, Incrassatum, Pamphrus, and a few of the other assassins gathered by the frame. They all looked sorrowful and worried, and one by one, they made their way into the training pit.

  Seeing them all gather around in front of me made me realize something vital I had forgotten in all the shock of discovering the Master.

  I was the next Master of the house. I was their leader, and as I looked at the group of trained killers, another fire of determination ignited within me.

  “We need to secure our estate,” I announced at once. “What efforts have been made so far?”

  “We swept the house to see if there was anyone here,” Vulnus spoke up, “but we couldn’t find anything.”

  “And that’s when we boarded everything up,” Pamphrus added. “You know, just to be safe.”

  “Good thinking,” I replied to them. “Did no one find any traces of someone’s presence? Even a hint?”

  “Nothing,” Incrassatum reported. “Everything is where it should be, and everyone else is unharmed. Nobody even noticed anybody coming in.”

  “I was at the reception the whole morning,” Mazne said with a nod. “You saw me there when you left before dawn, and nobody so much as even tried to enter after that.”

  “I see,” I muttered and patted Elis on the shoulder before jumping off the ledge and meeting the rest of the house members in the pit.

  “Could this have something to do with Ignis?” Spodium asked and crossed her arms. “After all, he is coming for the kingdom, maybe he took out the Master because he knew he was powerful, or something.”

  Word must have travelled fast around the kingdom if all the assassins had already gathered the fires were Ignis’ doing, but I couldn’t be sure. They may have already known before I left this morning that I was tasked to assassinate the Ember Priestess, but either way, the thought of Ignis being involved in the Master’s death had already passed through my mind. The more I considered it, the less likely it seemed.

  “I don’t think so,” I finally said.

  The group of assassins shifted their weight and narrowed their eyes uneasily.

  “Do you know what is happening with the fires?” Pamphrus asked.

  I drew a deep breath, but I knew if I could confide in anyone about this predicament, it was my own band of assassins. So, I told them everything about my task in the Ardere, Cinis’ fields, and Ignis’ dictatorship. When I finished speaking, Spodium’s jaw was dangling open, and Elis’ eyes looked ready to pop right out of his scrawny head.

  Pamphrus and Incrassatum chuckled every now and then through the tale while they grinned with intrigue, but the rest of the group, including Mazne, looked terrified to hear how much I’d undergone today.

  “Well, shit,” Pamphrus snorted. “Good to have you back, at least. I can honestly admit, I would have fucking died out there in the Ardere, but judging by what you’ve said, it would have been a beautiful death. You think you’ll see this priestess again?”

  “I don’t know,” I sighed at his broad grin. “Right now, more pressing matters are at hand.”

  “Yeah, like who did this?” Incrassatum asked with a snarl. “Who the fuck is to blame for this?”

  “I don’t know,” I confessed. “But Elis said that the Master was murdered only an hour after I left, which means the titan didn’t even know about the change of events. There was no way he could have known I wouldn’t complete my job. Well, that’s to assume it was even him who hired us to do the work in the first place.”

  “The titan could have just been covering his tracks,” Mazne whispered.

  “But then he would need to destroy all of us here,” Incrassatum sighed. “But it was just the Master who was killed.”

  Speculations burst from the group of assassins all at once as they all tried to come up with other explanations for the crime, but before I could weigh in about any of them, my hand started to pulse.

  I suddenly felt almost faint, and my body began to ache all over. I clutched my wrist and tried not to make a scene, but I couldn’t help but be distracted by the overwhelming feeling that coursed through me.

  Then I looked down and immediately understood where the pain was coming from. On my palm was the same symbol that I’d once seen on the Master’s palm. It was a circle made from waves, and in the center of the circle, there were the four elements branded like a compass at four points. The same sword and a bow and arrow blazed at the center with a cluster of dots, and the whole symbol glowed and throbbed brightly against my pale skin.

  I didn’t know when this had emerged, or why it started to ache so suddenly. I was only addressing our assassins… well, my assassins, and I hoped this pain wasn’t some indicator that something else was wrong.

  My plate was already pretty full today.

  I pressed my thumb into the symbol with the hope that it would numb the pain a bit, but it didn’t. Then my mind shot to my conversation with Master Abbot a couple days ago, and I wondered if he had known the whole time that he was going to get murdered. Surely, if he knew someone was going to strike so quickly, then he would have said something to warn me, but maybe he didn’t want to impose any fear onto me.

  Or maybe he knew he couldn’t stop them.

  My mind began to run in circles around all the details, and I had so many questions, but so few answers. The only person who would even know how to solve my troubles was sitting lifeless in the office just within our estate building, and here I was, standing in his place without a clue about how to proceed.

  I had hoped for much more time with Master Abbot, and I thought there would be plenty of opportunities left to learn and train with him, but there weren’t. I had to step up and be in charge. I had to lead the way, and I wasn’t about to let the whole estate collapse because of one criminal.

  I would never let my chosen family down.

  “Well, it must have been someone,” Vulnus growled, and his voice forced me to get out of my head while I pushed my palm into the side of my leg.

  “Or some thing,” Incrassatum echoed. “If you ask me, it doesn’t matter what or who this bastard is who’
s slain the Master. They should be murdered for it. I would start by slicing their head off… reaaal slowly.”

  She made a slicing motion against her throat with her thumb, and Mazne scrunched up her face at the thought of something so gruesome.

  “The fuck are we gonna do even if we do kill this murdering bastard?” Pamphrus grumbled. “Our Master’s gone. And here we all are… a bunch of murdering bastards with no protection.”

  The group fell silent and became more somber, and all the assassins looked at one another.

  “I actually have a confession,” I announced.

  They all turned to face me and looked at me.

  “I don’t know who did this,” I began. “But there’s something I need to tell you all.”

  “The Master has been killed and the fire is going to burn the rest of us any hour now,” Incrassatum snorted. “But go ahead, Dex, tell us your little confession.”

  I smirked at her chiding tone, but then I sobered as I considered the group in front of me.

  “I’m the next Master of the house,” I admitted. “I wasn’t permitted by Master Abbot to say anything about the arrangement, and before you ask, no, I didn’t know this death was coming. I’m just as shocked and hurt as all of you, but the Master and I, well, it has already been binded. He conducted a ceremony to make it official.”

  “The fuck?” Pamphrus scoffed, and I glanced at the man to find a sideways grin on his bearded face.

  “He told me that in case anything should ever happen to him, there should be someone to take over the role,” I went on. “Someone to keep business in order and maintain our places here in the kingdom. I said I would be honored to be that person.”

  “Wow,” Mazne breathed, and her eyes went wide with sudden excitement.

  “I think it’s a great idea!” Elis suddenly blurted out, and we all turned to look at him on the ledge. “Dex trains the hardest every single day, and he keeps to his training routine better than any of the rest of you. Master always said Dex slays every target with a one shot kill, too. He’s made for the job, and one day, I… I’m gonna be as great as you, Dex.”

  I couldn’t help smiling at the boy’s sudden speech. “Thank you for that, Elis. I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

  “Yeah, no problem,” Elis panted through a grin.

  Everyone else looked around at each other while they processed things for a moment, but while I was partially sweating with nerves, they all had smiles on their faces. They looked almost relieved despite everything we were caught in the middle of, and I found myself standing a little taller as my worries subsided.

  I glanced at the pearlescent symbol glowing on my palm, and when I returned my gaze to the clan of assassins, they’d all begun to talk amongst themselves as they discussed the sudden change in command.

  “Well, shit, it’s all fine by me,” Pamphrus chortled with his burly, tattooed arms crossed over his chest. “Best person for the job, in my opinion.”

  A few words of agreement echoed Pamphrus’ statement, until finally, everyone was applauding me.

  “Yeah, it’s a splendid idea!” Mazne shouted. “If there’s anyone for the job, it’s Dex.”

  “Now, he just needs to find out who killed Master Abbot so I can stick an axe through the bastard’s skull,” Pamphrus continued.

  “Nah, I’m gonna cut ‘im up,” Incrassatum sneered.

  “Dex should kill him,” Spodium piped up. “It’s only right.”

  “Look, I know the Master believed in me enough to handle this, and I know I have it in me to be just as good a Master as he was,” I replied. “But I also need you guys, I always have, and we can make an even stronger team than we already were. We’re in this together.”

  “Well said.” Incrassatum grinned. “Together as always, just… now you’re rightfully in charge.”

  “It’ll be weird, you know, calling you Master and all that,” Mazne laughed.

  “One step at a time, Maz,” I snickered. “Let’s worry about what’s going on here before thinking about what you’re going to call me.”

  “Okay.” She smiled, but as soon as I said those words, her face was overcome with the same look of concern from before.

  My announcement about the binding had temporarily eased our tension, but now, everyone stood looking at me for the next order.

  “We have some work to do,” I informed the group in a stronger voice.

  “Where do we start?” Spodium asked.

  “Yeah, you’re the Master now, Dex, so you’re at the helm of this,” Incrassatum added.

  “We have no clues gathered yet, and that is our next step,” I declared. “Scour the entire estate again while I investigate Master Abbot’s office, and leave nothing unturned. Until we find out more, none of us are safe. Make sure everything is securely locked, and I want the strongest men guarding every level at the stairs. All of you will stay armed and work in pairs, and Vulnus, you’re up front with Mazne.”

  The wiry old assassin nodded and pulled his dagger while the doe-eyed woman sent him a grateful smile.

  “Sounds good to me,” Incrassatum said as she unsheathed her sword and nudged Spodium. “Come on, girl. I’ll make sure nothin’ jumps out and strangles you real quiet like in the corridors.”

  Spodium grimaced as she turned to follow her trainer, and the rest of the group immediately jumped into action.

  “Boy!” Pamphrus called to Elis. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Actually, I want to stay here,” the child replied and looked at me.

  “You heard what the new Master said,” the large man snarled. “Come search your estate like the rest of us.”

  “Actually, Pamphrus,” I cut in. “I’ll keep Elis with me, he’s not quite ready to defend himself in tight spaces. Elis, go and fetch the keys to the office from Mazne.”

  The kid nodded and ran off ahead of me while I climbed out of the fighting pit, and by the time I got to the office door, the boy was running up with the keys in his hand. Then I unlocked the door and twisted the handle, and I left the boy waiting on the threshold.

  “Keep your eyes on that corridor,” I warned Elis.

  “I will,” he promised, and he clutched the hilt of his large sword with a determined nod.

  I wandered over to the back of the room, and I tried to get into the Master’s frame of mind so I could grasp the chain of events. I walked to where the Master was slumped on the chair, and I shifted his long, outer robe around to look for any signs of blood or injury.

  There wasn’t so much as a scratch on him, and his under layers weren’t rumpled or anything. No one had grabbed him, bruised him, or stabbed him, and there were no miniscule incisions anywhere. His face remained locked in fury and pain, but no other indication of a murder was on his body.

  And yet, his was ice cold, pale blue, and without a pulse.

  I searched all over the room for anything out of place, but even the rare weapons on the walls were all accounted for. Nothing was stolen, shifted, or left behind. It was as if he had simply died in here after shouting with himself for a while, which certainly wasn’t a likely possibility, especially in a kingdom like Ocadia.

  There were too many magical ways to kill a being here.

  Then I remembered the Master’s words from the night he branded my palm. The Master told me if anything ever happened to him, I must remember he was always in the water. I swiftly headed to the perfectly still fountain and brushed my branded palm over the pool.

  The water remained murky and lifeless, but an idea began to formulate in my mind as I looked into the water Master Abbot was always peering into.

  I didn’t know if the Master really could exist in the waters. I was no water being, and he’d always been a somewhat poetic man. Still, this was the water he saw the whole kingdom through, and I knew it was more than that.

  It was how he conversed with his own water gods.

  I immediately walked toward the door, shifted Elis into the hall, and locked the offic
e behind me. Then I strolled toward the reception area with haste, and the boy dogged after me.

  “Master Dex, where are you going?” Elis panted.

  “To find out who killed the Master,” I returned as we neared Mazne’s desk. “Elis, stay right here with Mazne and Vulnus. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

  I flung the front door open without another word, and it slammed shut behind me as I quickly headed for the gate of our grounds.

  I didn’t even know if I could contact the water gods myself since I didn’t possess a water magic of my own, but I didn’t care about nuances at the moment. All that mattered was there was a fountain in the Master’s office that he was constantly communicating through, and if someone on the other side of that communication had witnessed his death, then they were my most promising lead.

  Maybe I couldn’t communicate with them in the same way as the Master had, but I’d been training under Master Abbot for most of my life, and I listened to every word the man said to me.

  Including his tales of the pond that resided in the Forest of Hud, where the water goddesses could be found.

  Chapter 12

  The black smoke had started to seep into the kingdom, but it didn’t look like the fire had spread, so I figured I still had time to deal with the Master’s death before tackling the problem of the fires.

  I was thirty minutes north of the estate and just entering the northeast quarters of the sprawling city when I stopped and faced the forest that had thrown me out a while ago. I knew the water goddesses’ pond was somewhere beyond this portion of the kingdom, and I held my hands on my hips as I tried to think of the best way to convince the forest to let me in.

  “It’s urgent that I get back in,” I announced. “It’s me, Dex. We, uh… we worked together earlier.”

  The shrubs were up to my chest, and they didn’t move an inch. The vines above didn’t even hiss. Instead, everything remained as if the forest was completely ignoring me.

  “Please, I do need to get in,” I said more firmly. “I promise I’m not going to hurt you or cause any damage. I just need to pass through.”