The Discovery of an Assassin

by Brian Keller

  Etiquette class gave Cooper the most difficulty of all his classes. Learning to adopt mannerisms to suit the disguises, and remembering the proper nuances and gestures appropriate for each station was enough of a challenge, but when one must consider that these gestures and postures would change depending on whoever you were interacting with, it all soon became a jumbled mess for him. It was Birt who came to his rescue, encouraging him to categorize the gestures and propriety for each social position and mesh that in with a common sense approach of deference when interacting with someone of higher standing, and patronizing patience or disdain for anyone lower. Once memorized, it was then a simple matter of tempering those responses with mannerisms appropriate to the role he was portraying. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it helped. Prior to Birt’s advice, whenever Cooper was playing a role, he usually received a disapproving shake of the head and an invitation to try again; after acting on Birt’s advice he was seeing a nod of approval more often than not. Birt kept assuring him that eventually Cooper would learn to love acting out the roles but his replies to that assertion was always, “Not so far.”.

  Apothecary class provided some challenge but most of that was based on the initial steep learning curve. He knew that it was simply a matter of rote memorization at first. Once he knew all the names and uses for the equipment, definitions and functions for the processes and how to decipher the formulae then everything else would build from that base of knowledge. Following that line of thinking led Cooper to spend more effort making notes on Section One in his book. He didn’t know what to expect from Miss Camilla’s upcoming tests, but he felt assured in the fact that she wasn’t trying to deliberately fail anyone, she just wanted to make sure everyone understood before moving on to new material.

  By the end of the week in Movement class, Master Brais told them that at some point within the next two months, they would begin incorporating stealth exercises. Stealth doesn’t apply only to movements in darkness, but it does certainly figure in to it. One they were further into their stealth training they should expect some of their training ‘days’ to become training ‘nights’, and as they progressed their lessons would become more individualized. Until they began stealth training they’d occupy their class time with training on speed, agility and balance. The boys all learned the value of proper technique and as they learned, the soreness diminished and falls became less common. Whenever ‘corrective action’ was needed, Master Brais would assign the perpetrator to a few circles on The Trap. On a few occasions, Master Brais threatened to replace the netting with single ropes. This would cause a fallen student to either catch hold of a rope as he fell, or risk falling through to hit the hard ground below. This threat could easily be followed through and invariably the behavior improved. Each of the boys were glad that Movement Class was the last class of the day. It would be counterproductive and would feel like punishment to finish Master Brais’ class only to have it followed by Combat Training. Cooper was sure that the Masters had considered this when they arranged the schedules.

  Over the next few weeks Etiquette class had taken an unexpected twist for Cooper. They’d begun to spend almost half of each class session learning about history and lineages. He’d long since learned not to ask why they were required to learn such a wide disparity of topics. It seemed there was always a valid reason and asking that question only brought unwanted attention to himself. He still asked plenty of questions, just not “Why are we required to learn about ____?”.

  He knew that the name of this city was Paleros and that they were in the nation of Rhychevel, but he knew nothing about the nobles and ruling class except that there was a Duke that had briefly been severely fleeced only to have his goods returned, all unbeknownst to him, and there was at least one Marquis, a Lord-General and several other Lords and Ladies. He learned that Rhychevel was ruled by King Ketrich Argravel, who lived in a distant national capital city of Gajeril, and that Paleros was the provincial capital city of the province of Serlis, which was ruled by the King’s son, Prince Lancaster Argravel. The Duke was a vassal of the King but his appointed lands were here in the Prince’s province of Serlis. This meant that the Duke owed fealty to the King, but paid his taxes to the Prince. Cooper was quickly getting lost within the convoluted mish-mash of allegiances but was determined to make sense of it. He’d decided that he needed to ask the dreaded question, after all. He waited until Mister Ysel took charge at the lectern and he raised his hand. Mister Ysel regarded him, “Yes, Cooper. What is your question?”. Cooper cleared his throat, “Sir, I know that there is certainly a valid purpose for all of us to study lineages and political arrangement, but I would like to know what those reasons are. I think knowing the purpose will help me remember the material rather than simply trying to memorize.”. Mister Ysel nodded and smiled as Cooper spoke, then he took a moment to consider, “Cooper, I think that is the most diplomatic way I have ever heard anyone ask ‘Why are we learning this?’, but your question has merit. I’ll explain it hypothetically in hopes that a quick example will illuminate you.”. He paused briefly for effect, “Picture yourself as an Assassin for the Guild,”, now he had everyone’s rapt attention, “and you are at an upper class social gathering. You have adopted the disguise of an obscure Lord’s son in order to gain entry and are engaging in conversation so you do not stand out as you work your way through the room towards your victim. The Lord that you are conversing with seems rather agitated and has commented about the recent engagement of the Marquis’ daughter to the Lord-General’s son, and how it is a social mismatch. He looks to you for a reply. If you knew nothing about the social structure and political events, then you wouldn’t know that his comment was motivated by the fact that the Marquis had recently broken off the engagement between his own son and the Marquis’s niece less than a month ago. Had you simply agreed with him, he would feel even more validated and he would put an arm around your shoulders while boisterously announcing to the gathering that you agree that the Marquis has tainted his family’s honor. Knowing the political structure may allow you to avoid that pitfall and remove yourself gracefully as you continue anonymously towards your goal.”. Mister Ysel stopped, beaming, self-assured that he had made his point clearly. To Cooper it seemed like his teacher’s scenario was really reaching, but it did help to illustrate the point. Cooper simply put on a practiced smile, making sure it included his eyes and brows, as his instructors had taught him, and nodded. Keeping all this information straight was going to require a lot of note taking.

  Miss Camilla’s class had become a refreshing breath of clarity and reality each day following Etiquette class. He felt he had good grasp on the material in section one of the book. The test that she administered was not difficult. It was, as she’d promised, merely a tool she used to make sure everyone was learning the material before moving on. Next week they would start using their equipment to make basic reagents. Once each of them demonstrated that they understood what they were doing, they’d begin making large batches of reagents that would then be used by the Apprentices and Journeymen in their classes and in their official functions for the Guild. For Cooper, this made it seem a little more exciting. It wasn’t much, but he would soon be contributing to the Guild! For now, Miss Camilla was filling their classes with formula calculation and his fingers were growing sore from working through problems of units of measure and how much of each was needed to achieve desired concentrations. The math itself wasn’t terrible, though challenging sometimes, but it was the fact that Miss Camilla required them to write EVERYthing out so that she could be sure they understood how they got their answer. It also helped her identify where they went wrong if their answer was incorrect. He suspected that this policy would continue through all the Apothecary classes.

  Master Brais’ had made some adjustments to his class as well. Cooper hadn’t realized it earlier but some of the obstacles and equipment were movable. The Trap and objects like it, with poles sunk into the ground, weren’t mobile of course. Mast
er Brais had arranged the Arena into an obstacle course. The entire configuration now tested endurance as well as strength, balance and agility. He started to enjoy Movement class more now that it wasn’t two hours of repetitive exercise. At first, Master Brais had led them through the course, pausing as he completed each device so the boys could catch up and observe him on the next one. As the boys learned the circuit, Master Brais spent his time observing them rather than preceding them. If they completed an obstacle improperly or needed to simply improve their performance, Master Brais would call out the boy’s name followed by, “Again!”. Just as in Combat Training, it was a constant exercise in refining technique. It wasn’t just about speed, strength, or endurance. Technique was just as important. With good technique, the obstacles required less strength and could be completed faster besides. Less time on the obstacle, and exerting less strength to do it translated directly into it draining less from them in terms of endurance. As he gained more confidence going through the circuit, he felt that peculiar tingle that beckoned him to Flow through the obstacles. It was a temptation he had to resist, but he imagined that it would almost feel like flying. “Someday...”, he thought.

  Chapter 26

  The following week Mister Skran announced that testing would begin. He regarded the students, “Unfortunately, I don’t expect all of you to pass. For those of you that I expect to pass, another week or two of practice would serve you no purpose. For those of you that are unlikely to pass, another week or two would do you no good. It is time to perform, or fail.”. He stopped for a few seconds, allowing that to sink in before continuing, “For those of you with Advanced Combat on your tentative schedule, if you fail this test your schedule will be adjusted. Advanced Combat will not be part of your curriculum. Your lessons will take you in a different direction. For those that pass, tomorrow you will train at a new time, with blades. For those of you that do not have Advanced Combat on your tentative schedule, you may believe that it doesn’t matter whether you pass or fail.”, his mouth formed a tight, grim smile, “this is not the case. Failing a Combat test will have serious repercussions that can follow your throughout your time in the Guild. Ask any scribe or brothel worker, if you don’t believe me.”.

  “Let’s begin.”, Mister Skran’s eyes scanned the room. His gaze never seemed to focus on anyone and he called out, “Cooper! You’re first. Meet me in the center of the room.”. He then spoke again to the class, “When it’s your turn, you each have ten minutes to strike me. For your strike to count, it must have lethal potential. I will not use Manifested speed unless you do. As far as I am aware, none of you have Manifested at this time.”. Cooper was already in the center of the room, ready and waiting. Mister Skran moved to join him and he dropped into a fighting crouch and said, “Begin.”.

  Mister Skran and Cooper circled one another, each looking for an opening. Cooper had adopted a reverse grip and had shifted his posture to leave his left side slightly exposed. Mister Skran moved swiftly to show Cooper the error that he’d made. As his teacher closed the distance Cooper shifted his hips, moved in to meet him and interposed his left arm. Mister Skran’s weapon was to the outside in preparation for a strike to the boy’s kidney. He realized what the boy had done and that he’d been drawn out. Cooper was already moving along an inside line as Skran was bringing his weapon back toward midline. Cooper felt Mister Skran’s blunted blade slide along his left arm as he reached over Mister Skran’s right shoulder with his stick. He didn’t stop until he felt his baton slide against the yielding flesh of Mister Skran’s throat. Immediately Cooper withdrew and dropped both hands to his sides. Either Mister Skran would accept his lethal strike, or he would not. Mister Skran blinked several times as he stood upright. There had been no Manifested speed but the entire test hadn’t taken more than fifteen seconds. Mister Skran found his voice, “You would likely have a nasty wound on your left arm.”. The boy quietly replied, “It would heal, sir”.

  Mister Skran was left with nothing else to say. The boy had manipulated him, drawn him in and scored a lethal blow, all in less time than it took to describe the event. Hadn’t he taught them that it wasn’t about winning, it was about winning quickly enough to escape, and live? Cooper had done exactly as he’d taught him. There was nothing else for Skran to say except…. “Rukle, you’re next!”.

  Cooper moved to the side of the room, leaned against the wall and sat down on the floor. He watched as each of his classmates faced Mister Skran. Rukle passed on his own merits, as did Kolrem, Birt, Aden, Habbon and several others, even Boyd. In the last several weeks, Boyd had calmed down significantly. He wondered whether it had anything to do with him completely controlling several bouts with Habbon along with a few other of Boyd’s cronies, or if the timing was merely coincidental. Since the time he’d knocked the larger boy down in unarmed combat, Mister Skran had never paired them together again.

  It was obvious that Mister Skran had held back when testing several of the students, and for some he had left openings obvious enough that Cooper would’ve ignored them simply because he would’ve expected them to be a trap of some kind. Mister Skran didn’t call Loryn’s name. Instead, after the others had been tested, he walked over to Loryn and had a few quiet words with her. She nodded as he spoke and she didn’t look upset when he turned and walked away. Cooper walked with her to lunch and asked her what Mister Skran had said to her. She smiled and said, “He told me that he felt I would pass sure enough if I had as much time to practice as everyone else, but it was too soon to test me. He’s right. Anyway, I still have a long way to go in Master Worthan’s class. If I tested out of Basic Combat now, my schedule would be a mess. He told me that I’d be the Senior Student in the Basic class tomorrow. I guess that used to be your spot, huh?”. He didn’t know anything about a Senior Student position. It sounded like something Mister Skran invented on the spot to make her feel better but he said, “Uh… sure! And you’ll be great! I suppose that Mister Skran will call on you to demonstrate the techniques for Gina, Thad, and the rest of them. They should be starting now, right?”. Loryn was nodding. It was good to see her excited about something, and her ‘promotion’ would make her feel important, which was good as well. Aden caught up with them before they got to the dining hall and Loryn became even more cheerful, for a few minutes at least. She suddenly became thoughtful and morose, “I’m not going to have any classes with the both of you now…”. The corners of her mouth dropped and her lower lip started to quiver a little. Cooper pinched her arm playfully, “Not unless you hurry and catch up!”. His attention seemed to snap her out of her reverie but didn’t do too much to raise her spirits. As they ate their lunch, Cooper stayed next to them but had little else to say as Aden and Loryn talked about how she was doing in Master Worthan’s class. Cooper’s mind was filled with thoughts that, now that he would attend Advanced Combat class, he would be taught how to fight with a blade in each hand. It wouldn’t be tomorrow, surely, but it was coming.

  Etiquette class was always a mixed bag. If there was any rhyme or reason to the how the classes were organized, he’d yet to determine what that was. From one day to the next the class content could be anything. He appreciated the variety, but the seeming lack of structure sometimes made it more difficult to retain the material from earlier classes. Yesterday was political underpinnings and social structure, today’s scenario was a formal dinner with a Caldori host. Some utensils were omitted completely, some delicacies were to be eaten by hand, but only the right hand, and to belch was encouraged and was considered a compliment to the cook and to the host. Cooper learned that Caldori was a distant land far to the west. To get there required the crossing of two mountain ranges and Temidan, Rhychevel’s eastern neighbor. From Paleros, trade caravans take just over two months of travel to get there and although they lived in a coastal city, getting there over land was still faster by almost a week than going by sea. Cooper was glad to have just eaten lunch, a few of the foods offered at the table may have interfered with his ap
petite otherwise. He suspected that Miss Eiler and Mister Ysel included dishes like that on purpose just so they could gauge the reactions of the students. Cooper made a point of at least sampling a little of everything offered on the table. It made it a little easier when he remembered how hungry he’d been day in and day out less than a year ago.

  For these scenarios, his teachers had the students adopt several roles throughout. The majority of students filled roles as guests, each with different personalities and motivations. These were described before the session started. There was also discussion about the behaviors and roles of household staff depending on who was hosting the scenario. During the session, at one point Cooper might be a guest from Paleros, or from Caldori, or somewhere else. A half hour later, he might be playing the servant’s role of refilling glasses or clearing used plates and utensils from the table. Acting the part of house staff actually appealed more to him than that of a guest. The job of house staff was to perform while being essentially invisible. It allowed him full access wherever he wanted to go in the room as long as he had a reason for being there at that moment. The dichotomy, that it was the lowly servant who was in the position of the greatest power, struck a chord with him. It was not something he’d soon forget.