The Discovery of an Assassin

by Brian Keller

  Birt had saved a spot for him and was waving him over. As he sat Birt said, “I noticed you and Rukle were fighting pretty fast. After dinner I’m going to ask Master Loril if he has a couple sticks we can use to practice outside of class. Will you practice with me?”. Cooper shook his head, “Not tonight. I am going to meet with Miss Camilla. I’m copying a book for her and tonight she’s going to teach me to paint. It’s an assignment from Master Worthan since I’ve finished copying my textbook.”. Birt nodded, “The reward for completed work is more work, I see.”. Cooper shook his head again, “I don’t think it’s like that. I think Master Worthan just wants me to keep learning rather than just sit in class doing nothing or just deliver messages for the next three months. Besides, I didn’t think it would be interesting, but it is. I don’t know how good I’ll be at painting, but I will enjoy learning the material.”. Cooper thought about it a little more and he added, “Don’t do anything to make Miss Camilla angry. Just don’t.”.

  Chapter 18

  After dinner, Cooper retrieved the book and his drawings and took them to Miss Camilla’s classroom. She was at her table at the front of the room. Her table was polished fairly smooth but was covered with stains, a few dents and divots and several scorch marks. She had a small, wooden box with a hinged lid in front of her. The box was open and there were a couple dozen tiny jars inside. Off to one side was a tray that looked like it would fit perfectly in the box, on top of the jars. The tray held several brushes and a few bowls. She asked to see his drawings so he handed them to her. As she appraised them she tilted her head slightly and raised one of her eyebrows a little, “Not bad.”, she said, “How long did these take you to draw?”. “Almost five hours for the two of them. But as you can see, one of them isn’t finished.”, he replied. She nodded, “That’s quite a long time for each drawing, but I’m sure you were being very careful. It shows, but be careful of going too slowly.”. She pointed to a spot on the second drawing, “See right here where you paused too long and the ink has soaked further than you wanted. You won’t see that once it’s painted, but if you stop moving the quill, raise it from the paper.”.

  She began going through the jars, naming the colors though all the jars were labeled. “These are your base colors. They are the colors referenced in the mixing booklet you copied. Each color recipe is written assuming fifteen drops of the base color, then the number of drops of another color, or colors, needed to create the desired shade. You will mix them like this…”. She removed a base color, purple and counted fifteen drops into one of the small bowls, then drew out three other colors and added one drop of yellow, then two or three drops each of green and red, then mixed them together creating a different shade. She then drew his attention to a collection of brushes, “You see how some of these have many bristles and some have only a few?”. He nodded and voiced his thoughts, “More bristles means more paint, which means broader strokes and less detail.”. She confirmed, “Sounds like you’ve got it. Now you’ll want to have a skin or bottle of water to pour into one of the bowls so you can dip brushes to rinse them off. Keep a separate cloth to wipe the brushes and squeeze out all the water before using them with a new color. The written description of each plant includes the exact colors for the paints. Those colors correspond with color recipes in your booklet. That should be all you need.”. She placed all the items back in the box, closed it up and slid it to him. As he reached for the box, she added, “It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, if you have several drawings done before you begin painting it is not uncommon that many colors can be used on more than one diagram. You can save hours of mixing time by painting several pictures that all call for the same color, then clean your brush and make the next color. Also, if you begin with the lightest shade of a certain color, often all that is needed is to add one or two drops of paint and blend that in and you have a whole different prescribed shade. This will not only save you time but save paint as well. If you start running low on paints, you know where to find me now”. As he reached for the box again, he stopped, and studied her expression, “Anything ‘special’ about this box I should know?’. She shook her head and smiled, he supposed that was intended to encourage him.

  Cooper included the box with the other items in his footlocker. With the book and his bundle of weapons he’d had crafted, his foot locker was now about half filled. Birt had convinced Rukle to practice with him and they had moved a bed and locker out of one of the spaces and were using it as a training area. Birt’s face was tight with concentration but Rukle seemed completely at peace. Aden and Loryn were working on her reading. She had progressed nicely and she was putting sentences together. Mostly, she was now just increasing her vocabulary and comprehension. It was easier since she already knew many of the words, just not how to spell them. Cooper took the book out of the box and sat down on his bed to read it. He was trying to commit as much as he could to memory, but he doubted it would do much good since he knew nothing about the processes of distilling or reducing. He knew the difference between boiling and simmering but that’s about as far as it went. He decided that he’d be satisfied with being able to recognize the plants by name, and try to retain some idea of the beneficial and harmful potentials of each. By the time he put his book away that night, he was amazed at how many varieties of Asters there were. From an apothecary’s view there were only subtle differences amongst them, but Cooper was determined to learn whatever he could.

  After breakfast, Cooper had retrieved the book and box of paints before going to the classroom. There was a small flat table and a stool at the back of the classroom. He smiled, Master Worthan had done as he’d said he would. He sat at the table and began arranging his workspace. He was getting odd looks from his classmates, but he’d expected that. As soon as he’d brought out some jars of paint he heard a familiar, snide voice, “Oh look, the truth is finally coming out. He’s going to paint up his face and try to win all the little boys’ hearts.”. Cooper had almost forgotten about Boyd. Well ‘forgotten’ wasn’t quite true, but it had been easy to ignore him for the last few weeks. It had become even easier since Boyd had been moved to the Adequate group. Cooper smiled at Boyd while he rubbed his hand across his forearm and elbow, “Speaking of adding color to cheeks… would you like a touch-up?”. Master Worthan’s voice brought him back to the tasks at hand, “I am sure you all have plenty of your own copying to do. I suggest you get to it.”. Cooper felt a little ashamed that he’d risen to the bait that Boyd had offered. It really was pointless to get drawn in to those conversations. He followed Master Worthan’s instructions and turned his attention to the pages for Miss Camilla. He had decided to begin with the unmixed, base color of green. He figured, if it were not the most prevalent color, it would be one of them. Better still, it would require no mixing at all. He turned to look at the plant on the third page. The stem and significant portions of the leaves appeared to be base green. No surprise there. Feeling that he’d made a good choice, he began to draw.

  Minutes turned into hours, Cooper noticed the time only when he put one page aside and started on the next. By the time the lunch bell rang, he’d finished two drawings and had a good start on a third. Close to a dozen messages had come in for delivery, but Cooper hadn’t been called to deliver any of them. He’d probably be called for one tomorrow. As Cooper placed the book and box in his footlocker, he decided that there would be no reason to even take the paints to the classroom again until he had a small collection of diagrams to be painted.

  After lunch, weapons training continued. Rukle seemed more intense than usual and he was practicing at almost full speed. This didn’t bother Cooper, at least not as much as the feeling that Rukle was repeatedly attacking him. When Cooper blocked and moved to counter, Rukle would often disengage and back away, only to rush back in for another attack while Cooper was adjusting for the fact that Rukle was not practicing as Mister Skran had instructed. After several iterations of this type of sequence he realized that Rukle was attac
king with little regard for defending himself. He could get away with this since Cooper only had one weapon… or did he? Rukle came in for his next attack, as he blocked with his stick he gently swatted his opponent with an open hand just below his ear. Feeling the swat, Rukle reacted with surprise and then rage as he launched himself at Cooper with a series of strikes. Cooper easily blocked the frenzied strikes and stepped to one side and hooked his foot behind Rukle’s rear ankle and pulled. The boy landed on his backside. He jumped up with an agility fueled by anger but before he could resume his attack Mister Skran’s voice sliced across the room. “Stop!”. Mister Skran started walking toward them and he said, “Cooper. Rukle. Stretch and cool off a minute. The rest of you... Continue.”. Mister Skran stood over them and said, “Rukle, if I didn’t know better, I’d think that you believe you’re ready to fight for real. You’re not. Cooper, you’ve begun to improvise some counterattacks. Once all of you have progressed further in your training, there will be plenty of opportunity for improvisation. Restrict yourself to what I have taught you until that time.”. Cooper spoke before he could stop himself, “Sir, will we be training with weapons in each hand?”. Mister Skran looked at Cooper with impatience and a touch of disdain, “You will likely be instructed on dual weapon fighting…someday, but that is not something I teach in this beginner’s class. Focus your attention on the lessons that I am teaching. Your technique still leaves much to be desired.”. As Mister Skran turned to walk away he spoke to them over his shoulder, “Continue.”.

  Skran was thinking, as he walked away, “That boy’s instincts are sharp. Am I doing the right thing by making him ignore them to focus only on what I am teaching?”. He shook off his doubts. He knew he was right. The students needed to learn the techniques, they had to become automatic. This could not be accomplished any other way than the repetition of precise movements. In recent days, Skran had grown to worry less about Cooper, but now he realized that he’d been concerned about the wrong thing. The challenge with that boy was that he was impatient. He could sense his own potential and was rushing to achieve it. Patience… discipline was the answer. Not punishment, and he’d eventually rebel if he were restricted too much. He’d need to speak with Cooper alone. To guide the boy; to help him understand. Now… what to do about Rukle…”

  Oddly enough, Cooper was wondering the same thing. His opponent seemed single minded and kept forcing the attack. His movements lacked precision but still held plenty of vigor. Cooper would have much preferred to continue to practice as they had been, but decided to use whatever opportunities Rukle’s repeated attacks offered him for training. He started looking for ways to avoid the attack, instead of blocking. If an attack could be dodged or avoided, then he could still attack even as Rukle was attacking.

  It had been almost another thirty minutes, and he was beginning to understand how the movements unfolded, and he’d begun to see how they could be intercepted; interrupted even, and exploited. As he was testing his new theories Mister Skran called out again, “Stop! Left side shift to your new partner.”. Cooper found himself facing Dailen. The boy was rolling his shoulders and flexing is fingers. Cooper leaned backward at the waist, arching his back, then came back upright and leaned side to side. After a few seconds Mister Skran called out, “Begin.”. Cooper should’ve counted his blessings earlier. Practicing with Dailen felt like watching paint dry by comparison. The boy’s technique was improving but it all seemed so methodical. As if there was only rote movement without any intent. Cooper busied himself with studying his opponent’s attacks, observing how his body shifted, and how to best position himself when he blocked so he could make his counter attack more effective. When Cooper attacked he observed how Dailen blocked and started his counter attack and noted how he could quickly bring his weapon back into play and block Dailen’s counter attack, or simply shift his body avoiding the counter entirely and use his weapon for a counter attack of his own. He was teaching himself that a slight shuffling of his feet could quickly shift his position without sacrificing his stance. Cooper suddenly felt himself spun around and struck in the abdomen. Breath whooshed out of him and he bent forward trying to guard himself from another blow while trying to recover his wind. Dailen had started backing away just the second before. As Cooper started to raise his head to look at his attacker he saw Mister Skran’s feet and legs in front of him and heard his voice from above him, “I am certain that I instructed you against improvising at this time. I have told you more than once to practice the lessons that I have been teaching you. You continue to wander a different path. Perhaps this reminder will bring your mind back to the classroom. Recover your breath, and then continue.”.

  He realized that the only way to be allowed to learn new techniques and improvise was to demonstrate to Mister Skran that he had fully developed the techniques that he’d been taught. He had no doubts that he was practicing under Mister Skran’s watchful eye from this point forward. Although Dailen seemed slow, his movements were correct, almost deliberate. Cooper concentrated on making his movements more precise. After about thirty minutes of this he started to feel a certain efficiency in the movements and he focused on making his movements faster without sacrificing precision.

  Another fifteen minutes or so, Mister Skran called for the students to change partners again. Now Cooper was facing Aden. He realized that as far as he recalled, Aden had not received any corrections from Mister Skran in over a month, maybe even two. When they were told to begin, Cooper could see why. Aden’s movements were precise. Quick but not overly so, the speed came mostly from the movement being practiced repeatedly and having gained a remarkable degree of efficiency. He hadn’t thought of it that way. He’d simply thought of speed as a quality in and of itself, and not something that could be developed within a specific, repeated movement. Previously, Cooper had doubts when Mister Skran had stated earlier that except for the last few seconds, the demonstration between Master Loril and himself had been without Manifested speed. Now Cooper thought he saw how that might be possible. He began practicing diligently with Aden. Cooper realized that instead of being so far ahead of the rest of the class, he was actually a little behind.

  When Mister Skran called the class to an end and dismissed the students, he called for Cooper to stay behind for a few minutes. All the students placed their weapons on the table and the boy walked over to him with his head down. Skran watched him as he approached, “There was much that I had intended to say to you, but having watched you practice with Aden I believe you may already understand what I wish to speak with you about.”. Cooper looked up at him. Instead of answering Skran, he waited. After a second or two, Mister Skran continued, “I do not expect you to master the techniques I am teaching within the year. Nor should you, but I expect you to try. I fully expect that when you Manifest, it shall be an impressive thing. I expect that you will have great speed. You already understand that you will not be the only person capable of Manifested speed, but I don’t believe that you’ve considered what that would mean to you in a fight for your life. If you’re facing an opponent of equal Talent, then the only thing that can ensure your survival is for your technique to be better than his. Now do you understand?”. Cooper seemed to be seeing Mister Skran in a different way as the realization struck him… ‘He’s not just teaching me, he’s preparing me!”.

  Skran knew the class was progressing too slowly. He felt like he was acting in an over protective manner. Master Worthan had asked him to try and protect the students from injury. The wise, old man had told him that he believed many students in the last class had likely tested poorly because they’d gotten dropped to a lower group while healing from injuries and they never reached the potential they might have. Skran had to admit that the man’s point could certainly be valid. There were more than the usual number of injuries in the last class, and fewer than normal had passed. He couldn’t keep holding students back though, they had to be pushed in order to bring out their potential.

  Chapter 19
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br />   Cooper detoured to pick up Miss Camilla’s textbook and the diagrams he had been working on and then jogged to the classroom. By the time he got there, his fellow students were seated and had just started copying. He finished one drawing and started another when a scribe entered the room and walked to Master Worthan’s table to speak with him. They spoke in hushed tones for about thirty seconds and Master Worthan stood and walked into the shop, and the scribe sat in Master Worthan’s chair. After five minutes or so, Master Worthan poked his head into the room and called out, “Miss Loryn. Come here, please.”.

  Loryn got up and followed Master Worthan into the Scrivener’s shop. A few minutes later, Loryn, a boy of about ten or eleven years, and Master Worthan entered the classroom. The scribe got up and returned to the shop, while Loryn and the boy continued on further into the Guild.

  Another two hours and the dinner bell rang. Loryn had not returned with the boy. Cooper supposed that made sense. No reason to bring him to the classroom this evening for only a few minutes. When the dinner bell rang he was not quite a third of the way through his fourth drawing.

  He arrived to the dining hall to discover several of his classmates gathered around Loryn and the new boy. Cooper gathered his dinner and joined them. As he sat, Loryn was saying, “This is Cooper. He’s fast as a blur and even dropped Boyd like a sack of rocks. Don’t let his eyes fool you, he’s actually pretty nice…. Cooper, this is Thad.”.