by Arthur Slade
“I do see a goat over there,” I said.
“Yes, there are several. I can smell them.”
“Then let us go. And once you’ve had your fill, we’ll begin to look for my brother so I can kill him.”
Brax lowered his head, and I slid onto his back and took hold of one of the bony spikes that ran along his neck. We took to the morning sky.
Book Two: Shadow Hunter
Chapter 1
Footfalls in the Shadows
I slipped off the back of the dragon and landed softly behind the guard. He stared over the parapets of the tower toward the city of Myra. Perhaps he was watching the torch-lit merchant ships sail into port. He had not expected anyone to touch down behind him.
And so he fell easily when I slid out my dagger and smacked the hilt into the side of his head. I caught him, making sure his chain mail didn’t clatter, and lowered him to the ground. Then I crouched beside the guard and felt his pulse. From what I’d learned in assassin school, he’d be out for at least two hours.
Plenty of time to complete my task.
Brax was already high in the air. It was amazing how such a large creature could travel in silence. He’d promised to circle high above the walled mansion, being careful not to come between it and the crescent moon. No sense letting anyone spot a dragon flapping around in the mortal realms. I’d practised a whiskered screech owl hoot to summon him.
Two guards patrolled the grounds below along with four large dogs. I’d observed their movements over the last week and knew they’d be on duty for the next three hours before being replaced by another set of guards.
I adjusted my mask. I’d made it from a moveable wax — a skill I’d picked up under the tutelage of Maestru Alesius. The mask gave me the appearance of a middle-aged man. It would be bad if my brother knew I was still alive.
Worse than bad, in fact. It would be deadly.
I’d also painted a left eye in the mask, that I could peer through. As long as no one looked too closely, it would hide the fact my dragon eye glowed.
I needed to know Corwin’s plans and to figure out how to track him down. The mansion belonged to the Horuses — Gregum’s family. I’d spotted Gregum coming and going from the mansion at all hours of day and night. I was sure he was doing my brother’s work. And I was pretty certain I knew which room was his.
The tower door was open, so I crept down the stone stairs. The stairwell torch had burned itself out, but with my dragon eye that didn’t matter. The faintest bit of moonlight was enough to see the outline of the steps. Even my balance was better.
I still wasn’t certain what to make of my new eye. The fact I could see such a great distance was sometimes alarming. And there were moments where I felt I was looking into other spaces, other worlds.
“It’s just the witching blood in my Scythian veins,” Brax had explained. “Guess you have it now. It only makes sense since it’s my eye.”
He didn’t elaborate. He continued to be angry about the deal we’d made.
I was glad to no longer wear an eye patch. And, at the same time, I missed it. Which was an odd reaction.
The tower stood in the courtyard’s centre, and the mansion had been built around them both. I came to the bottom of the steps and edged open the door, revealing a lush garden: there were grapes, apples, lilies, and other fauna the country of Trella was famous for. This interior yard was where the Horus family would have massive parties. And the tower was where they’d flee if they were ever threatened.
Obviously they were a very, very rich family.
My dark assassin’s cloak hid me from any watching eyes. I crossed the courtyard and entered the house through a servant’s door. There would be guards in the mansion itself and I had no idea of their patrol patterns, so I’d have to be completely silent.
I went down a hallway. Paintings of Trellian gods hung on either side of me. Their gods wore little in the way of clothing. I thought I recognized Gregum in one painting and I nearly tittered out loud. An artist had painted the whole family into the scenes as if they were gods too: eating, drinking, fighting. Oh, how highly they thought of themselves!
I was so busy smiling that I nearly bumped into a servant girl clutching an armful of towels. At the last moment I threw myself against the wall and stood still.
She walked right by, humming a jaunty song.
The mind should never wander, Maestru Alesius had often said. I missed him. I missed our long conversations. I even missed how he would correct me.
His death was yet another reason to find Corwin.
And to kill him.
I padded up a set of stairs and came to an open window. It was a warm enough night to keep the windows open. I hopped out onto the windowsill and climbed hand over hand along the gutters, thankful they were strong.
I made my way to Gregum’s windowsill. It was open, the curtains moving slightly. I knew when I crouched in the frame I’d block the moonlight, making myself more visible, but there was no way around that. Thank the gods the Horus family is so rich! I thought. Being that rich meant they hired the best masons, who didn’t make ledges that crumbled easily. I knelt and peered in.
Gregum was asleep in his bed.
Just the sight of him made me shudder in revulsion. He’d always been coiled like a massive snake next to my brother. His eyes coldly watching me and the other students like we were something to devour. He was the largest of our graduating class, and he relied on his brute force.
He slept soundly, making the slightest snore. Obviously, he felt no guilt about the students and maestrus he’d killed.
I thought of skipping the questions and just stabbing him. They trained me for killing, though I’d never taken a life. But tonight, I wanted information. I’d very much like to know what work Gregum was doing for my brother.
I drew in my breath, searched for any trap, and then lowered myself onto the floor. First one foot. Then the other. Another advantage of an expensive stone house was that the floors didn’t creak.
Glowing embers in the hearth were still casting out heat. I sweated at once.
My mask slipped slightly but there was nothing I could do now to secure it. I just had to hope the sticky sap on the underside kept being sticky.
I noted a desk against the wall with a few scrolls on top, and beside them were several dolls. Why would Gregum collect children’s toys?
I took a step. And another. The carpet was thick. I didn’t make a noise.
Then: tinkle. Glass had broken under my foot.
He had hidden glass balls beneath the carpet. Now that was clever! I glanced over to see him snore a little and roll so one hand lay over the far edge of the bed. I did my best impression of a statue until I was sure he was still asleep.
My dragon eye spotted several other small lumps in the carpet, and I avoided them.
As I neared the hearth, sweat dribbled down my face and the mask slipped enough to block my vision. I fiddled with it. Maestru Alesius would mock my mask-making skills. Was the wax itself melting? Perhaps I hadn’t made a strong batch.
I pushed the mask back into place and shuddered once I’d lined up the eyeholes. Gregum was sitting up, glaring at me, a small crossbow in his right hand. He must have had it hidden at the far end of the bed.
“What’s your name?” he asked. “I like to know the name of the person I kill.”
Chapter 2
Pointy Things
Gregum was a gifted, loud braggart. After any school trial where he’d emerged victorious, he’d thump his breast and roar like a demented lion. He’d do the same when he finished an exam at the top of the class (which wasn’t that often). His confidence was second only to my brother’s.
I was far too close to even think of dodging. His hand was steady.
“So, dead man, who are you?” he asked. Gregum gave me a great big toothy smile.
“Um … uh,” I said, keeping my voice gruff. “I … I have information for you. As a gift.”
�
�I don’t need gifts. You’re here because I’m killing the other assassins, aren’t you? You came to save yourself.”
“Yes,” I said, thinking it best to keep my answers short. “A deal. For my life.”
“No deals. Sorry. I get paid too well to make deals. But it’s obvious that you are from the Red Adept Assassin School. It’s where the best are trained. I’m right, aren’t I?” He shook the crossbow a little as though urging agreement.
I nodded slowly.
“Of course I am.” He licked his lips. “I am curious about how you found me, since no one knows my name.”
“A bird told me.”
His eyes narrowed and glinted as if they were made of polished stone. “I don’t like games unless they involve pointy things being stuck into my enemies. So tell me who you are and how you found me. Now!”
“But don’t you want the gift?” I gruffed again.
“You have nothing of value but your name. I’ll draw a line through it when you’re dead.”
“But I have the gift, here.” I gestured at my cloak.
“I told you not to move! Not even a finger.” He spat a little as he spoke. It was clear I had to give him something to think about, or he might just put a bolt through me.
“The surprise has to do with Scyllia,” I said.
“How do you know her name?” He got out of bed and I was glad to see he was wearing undergarments. His aim, as he moved, was directly at my chest. “That’s a mask, isn’t it? You’re hiding your face. But you spoke the name of my classmate, and there are only five of us alive. And I know you’re not Scyllia or Corwin. So which one are you?”
I’d made a mistake! I wanted to smack myself upside the head.
“In fact, I am not sure if you’re a girl or a boy,” he said.
Gregum looked dull-witted, but behind that thick skull was a clever brain.
“I’m a boy,” I grumbled.
“Prove it!”
How did he expect me to do that! And then a thought came to me. A dangerous thought.
“I’m Corwin.” I tried my best to copy my brother’s voice.
“Corwin?” His grip on the crossbow wavered. “Is that really you, Corwin? Is this another test?”
“Yes,” I said. “It’s me. And yes, it’s a test. The emperor told me you would betray us.”
“That’s not true!” He still hadn’t lowered the bow. “You sound like Corwin and you’re about the same size, but why would you risk your life to test me?”
“You know my jokes, Gregum,” I said. “I’m just playing with you.”
“I’ve passed all your trials. I even broke oaths for you. Why more tests?” he whined.
“I lied — it’s not a test.” I’d perfected my brother’s snarky tone. “I have a gift, remember? I gave Scyllia hers, now I’ll give you yours. It awaits inside my cloak.”
“What sort of gift?” he asked.
What did Gregum want? Gold? No, look at where he lived. Nor would he want gems or books. Would he love a sharp blade? Or the beating heart of a princess?
“It’s a crown,” I said. “I’m giving you a whole province. Well, me and the emperor. Take it, Greggs.” I also knew that was my brother’s nickname for his friend.
Gregum was still for a moment, then he reached out with his left hand and felt the inside top pocket of my cloak. I didn’t move.
“It’s a box,” he said. “It’s too small for a crown.”
Squeeze it! I wanted to shout. Squeeze it. I’d put a venom needle on my coin box. Not enough venom to kill, but it would really, really sting.
“There’s a gem inside the box,” I said. “For your provincial crown.”
He held his fist in front of him and opened his palm. The box was sitting there. Why hadn’t it stung him?
“It’s so small.” He sounded disappointed. He prodded at the lock with his thumb. “Ow!” he shouted, dropping the box.
At that same moment I swung my fist into his elbow so the crossbow bolt flew into the wall and then I slammed into him and reached for my dagger. I thought better of it and ripped a pouch from my pocket, then threw a handful of dust toward his face. I held my breath.
“What the—”
He fell to the ground. The knockout powder had done its work. I knew the effects wouldn’t last long; in fact, I was lucky that he wasn’t immune. But I wasted no time tying him up.
When he was properly bound, I went to his desk and shuddered. The dolls were clad in assassins’ robes. At least half of them were stabbed with a pin each: one in the head, another through the heart, others jabbed in the neck or elsewhere.
This was Gregum’s way of keeping track of his kills. He was a beast!
I unrolled one scroll to discover a list of names. Many had lines through them. I rolled it and the second scroll on his desk up and stuffed them into the long pockets of my cloak.
There were twelve dolls. If each represented an assassin, Gregum had killed eight in the four weeks since we graduated. Each assassin who had escaped the graduation night massacre was being hunted down one by one. And those who hadn’t attended that night were no safer.
I wanted to twist his neck until it was broken. I grabbed a doll — a girl doll with red hair — and stuffed it into my pocket.
“You aren’t Corwin.”
The voice made me shudder. I turned. He was awake already! If he’d been extra clever, he would have hidden that fact until he could wriggle out of the ropes.
“No. I’m not.” I kept my voice deep.
“You tricked me. For that I’ll eat your liver.”
I chuckled in a manly way. “You’d find it bitter.”
“How do you know Scyllia and Corwin?”
“I studied all of you. In fact I was going to hire you after graduation.”
This gave him pause. “Truly?”
“You are the strongest. The best.”
He smiled, showing large white teeth. “Well, perhaps I won’t eat your liver,” he said.
“And I won’t eat yours. It’s a deal.”
“I still must kill you. Corwin’s orders.” He shrugged those massive shoulders. “I’ll make it quick since you think so highly of me.”
“How kind,” I said. “Corwin will betray you. You can’t trust that one. That’s why I wouldn’t hire him.”
“You’re wrong. He rewards his kin.”
I was his kin! I nearly shouted.
“He has so many plans,” Gregum continued. “And there is a big place in those plans for me. I wouldn’t want to work with you. Ever.”
I hadn’t concluded what to do with him. He’d been involved in the massacre of the Red Assassins and would continue to sow destruction if I didn’t kill him. And to kill him would also stop him from passing anything he had learned about me to Corwin.
“Why would you hide your face?” He raised an eyebrow, clearly visible in the moonlight. “I know you — that’s why you’re wearing a mask.”
There was a corporthium pill in my third pocket. It would put him in a coma. The people who came out of that deep sleep lost their memories. Forever.
He had a family. He had riches. They would care for him as he became someone else.
It was just a matter of pulling back his head and shoving it down his throat.
“We’re done here,” I said. I took a step toward him, preparing to do a juji move that would leave his mouth open so I could drop the pill on his tongue.
Gregum launched himself upward, the ropes falling to the floor.
His massive fist connected with my jaw.
Chapter 3
A Shattered Mask
The blow sent me flying and shattered the right half of my mask. I managed to smash my head against the desk leg on the way down. I’d fought hand to hand many times at school and had taken many blows, but none as powerful as that.
It was important to stand right away and fight back, but my thoughts were slow and dizzy. My body did not respond to my commands. Get up! Get up!
The vision in my dragon eye cleared first. The room was black and white, and Gregum was a moving bundle of red energy jumping toward me.
I pushed away with all the speed I could muster, somehow rolling across the floor and out of his reach.
“You’re a quick one,” he said.
I was too fuzzy to speak. And I still couldn’t see clearly out of my human eye. The red shape stalked toward me.
“I like my prey dazed,” he said. “And I will eat your liver. My cooks downstairs will fry it up.”
It was hard to convince my body I was in danger. I was certain my mask hadn’t come off completely or he would have recognized me.
“Wait,” I said. But it came out, “Waaah.”
“Waaah? You sound like a baby. No, don’t move.”
He leapt toward me with a dagger in his hand. He must have hidden weapons all around the room.
I thought about breathing fire on him.
No! You’re not a dragon, I told myself. The blow had scrambled my brains. At the last moment, I reached into my robe, grabbing the first thing I came across and throwing it.
He parried with his dagger. Glass shattered. My hand began burning as liquid drops hit it.
Acid! I’d tossed my acid globe at him.
The rest of the liquid hit his face.
He screamed in pain and anger, grabbing at his cheek. He crashed down next to me and I stumbled away.
“You will die a thousand deaths for that!” He lurched to his feet, his face seeming to bubble flesh.
Gregum barrelled himself right at me and I dodged. He hit the wall so hard I thought he’d go through it.
The path to the window was clear and so was my vision. I ran toward that square and jumped. He flailed at my legs, grabbed a pant leg, but failed to catch hold. I made a wobbly landing on the windowsill and, without pausing, leapt toward the roof.
