The Discovery of an Assassin

by Brian Keller

  Master Loril was using a cloth to wipe away some sweat and grime from his face. A year ago or so, Cooper had helped Chesim’s father, Faril pick up fish from one of the other fishermen to load onto his cart. That fisherman was a heavy man who always seemed to be perspiring. Cooper could barely stand next to the man, as he reeked of fish and rancid sweat. Cooper could tolerate the fish odor, but the smell of the accumulated sweat was overpowering. Master Loril always seemed to be bathed in sweat, yet Cooper could detect no discernable odor except that of freshly singed hair. As the big man wadded up the cloth and tossed it over onto the bench next to his hammers he asked, “Mister Cooper, how may I be of service?” Cooper asked, “Sir, where is the office for the Master of Coin? Is it on a lower level? I have been most places on this level and haven’t found it.”. Master Loril tilted his head as he asked his questions, “Who mentioned anything about lower levels?”. Cooper sensed that he may have stepped into dangerous territory, “Just something I overheard from some other students in the dining hall.”. The big man increased his scrutiny but didn’t press, “Best not to repeat any rumors of lower levels, and if you know who it was you overheard, you might mention that to them as well.”, he continued, “In answer to your question, the Master of Coin keeps his office off the premises. Although you are still a student, you are a Guild member and have an account. A Guild member that has no account need not know the location of the office of the Master of Coin. You understand what I’m telling you? I will tell you as long as you will keep this information secret. Will you?”. Cooper nodded, “I will, sir. I just intend to find out how much coin I have on account. If you were to learn how much I have and tell me, then I wouldn’t even have to know where his office is.” Master Loril chuckled, “The Master of Coin has his office elsewhere in town. In a home in The Grid, in fact. I rarely leave the school so I’ll just give you the location and trust you to keep the secret.” He told Cooper the precise location and the knock sequence to identify him as a Guild member. Cooper’s eyes got wide. The Master of Coin had his office across the street to the west and two houses north from the residence of the Duke. The owner of the home he had robbed and then replaced his fortune.

  He returned to the sleeping bay about fifteen minutes before the dinner bell rang. He occupied his time by stretching and rehearsing all Mister Skran’s instructions in his mind.

  After dinner, Loryn asked Cooper if he could teach her to read. He smiled and suggested that they start with teaching her to go through the alphabet. She smiled shyly, “That makes sense.”. He recited the alphabet for her and wrote it out across the top of a sheet of parchment and gave it to her. Once he had covered the entire alphabet, he started over. This time through he went back through it stopping at every letter to name several things that started with that letter. Aden came over to see what they were doing, observed for a few minutes and then went back to his bunk and started scribbling. They went through the letters again and again until both he and Loryn were tired enough to sleep. When they went to their bunks, Aden was still scribbling.

  The following morning, Cooper got up and stretched for a few minutes waiting for the privy to become unoccupied. Loryn stepped out, bathed, with her hair wrung out but still dripping a little bit. Now that clean water was readily available she seemed to enjoy bathing regularly. Cooper kicked Aden’s bunk on his way to the privy, “Get up! You don’t want to still be in bed when you hear the breakfast bell.”. Aden groaned and rolled over in his bunk, trying to ignore Cooper. While Cooper was in the privy he heard something that sounded like, “WOOP!” ring out in the sleeping bay. He rushed out of the privy still pulling up his pants, his eyes searching around the room. He heard the sound of Aden steadily cursing from his space. Cooper sped up the bay and rounded into Aden’s bunk space to find Loryn seated on the floor holding a bundled up sheet, giggling, and Aden still lying down but holding onto his straw-filled mattress which was hanging half off the bed, curses continuing to stream from his lips. Between giggles, Loryn managed to say, “You’re awake now, aren’t you?”. Cooper opened and closed his mouth a couple times to say something, each time deciding against it. He finally shook his head and simply returned to the privy. As he was closing the door he heard Aden mutter something like, “just you wait…”. Cooper was pretty sure Aden wasn’t talking to him. The verbal exchange was still going on during breakfast. Loryn had related that she’d tried to pull Aden’s mattress off his bed with him still on it, but she wasn’t strong enough and just ended up with his sheet. Aden was saying something about what a good night’s sleep was worth to her and she should never sleep soundly again. Eventually there was simply laughter around the table. It took longer than usual to finish breakfast.

  Chapter 11

  In the two hours in the classroom that morning, a rapid series of messages needed delivery. Apparently something big and unexpected had happened and half of the seats in the room emptied in less than ten minutes. As Cooper and Loryn received their message and checked the recipient and address, they discovered that they were charged with a delivery to The Heights. He had been to The Heights only a few times but from studying city maps so many times he knew his way around the area. He asked a scribe what had happened in town and was told that one of the wharfs had collapsed at the Waterfront and it had taken a few smaller boats down as well. He hoped that this hadn’t affected Chesim and his family, but whether it had or not there really wasn’t much he could do about it. Then he thought of the money he had on account, but he couldn’t stop to visit the Master of Coin while Loryn was with him. He decided to check on it later, he couldn’t do much about it now.

  On the way to The Heights, He pointed out some of the architectural features of the buildings and encouraged her to notice how the styles changed as they moved through the city. He also told her to look at the guards as they passed them. Not just notice that they were there, but actually look at what they were doing and how they were acting. Were they paying attention to what was going on around them, or were they just walking a prescribed route? He was teaching her to look at the guards as men wearing armor rather than as avatars of the law. For him it was making use of the time while delivering a message. It was something he did now every time he went out through the city.

  They passed through The Grid with its straight, perpendicular streets and underground sewers and entered The Heights. In this part of the city, the mansions and estates existed first and the streets were formed as a way to pass amongst them. Ditches were dug for sewers when it became apparent that wastes were accumulating faster than they could be dealt with. The odor hung in the air but was better than the smell of Batter’s Field and far better than the stench of The Dregs. The fact that The Heights occupied a high point in the city, second only to the Palace and therefore experienced regular breezes, helped immensely.

  The mansion of Lord General Hennit Arkady was impressive. Cooper had not been to this estate before and took a moment to observe and retain as much as he could. It was obvious that a staggering amount of coin had been spent making the estate difficult to penetrate, either by force of arms or surreptitiously. The walls were twelve feet high and were constructed of massive blocks of worked stone which had two rows of eight inch, barbed spikes at the top. Each barb was no more than ten inches from the one beside it. One row to the outside of the wall mounted just below the crest pointing outward and down at a forty-five degree angle. The row of spikes on top of the wall were positioned two inches or so back from the outside edge of the wall and the barbs pointed straight up. Something glittered along the top edge of the wall and he suspected that shards of broken glass had been added to the mortar used along the top of the wall. The walls themselves appeared to be about four feet thick, perhaps a little more. The gate was iron and at least ten feet tall, but the opening through the wall looked to be about six inches shorter. The gate, when closed, would sit flush within a small recess carved into the front of the wall. One word described these defenses in Cooper’s mind… Impressive.r />
  The couriers approached the gate. Two guards watch them attentively as they approached. Once the couriers were within range of normal conversation one of the guards stepped forward while the other held back and surveyed the surrounding area. The guard that stepped forward held an outstretched hand toward Cooper and requested to see the copper tube. The guard examined it and said, “You’re in luck. The Lord General is still here. He had just sent word to have his horse saddled, so he’s preparing to leave for somewhere. We’d best get you in front of him before he mounts up.”

  The guard that had spoken with them turned and looked through the gate. There were two guards patrolling the grounds. The guard stepped to a cord and pulled it, which caused a bell to ring, he paused and rang it again. The two guards patrolling the grounds came to the gate and the couriers were instructed to follow them to the stable. If the Lord General wasn’t there by now, he soon would be.

  The grounds were almost unremarkable by comparison. There was grass and flowers but all grew close to the ground. Cooper wondered about this but when he saw two archers patrolling the roof of the house it became clear. If anyone managed to clear the wall or breach the gate, they would still have to cross the grounds. There was nothing here to hide behind. Any archers on top the house had a clear view of everything on the grounds.

  Crossing to the stables, he could hear horses snorting and stamping inside. Of course he’d seen horses in town pulling carriages and carts, and carrying all nature of riders on horseback. He hadn’t much chance to see a horse up close and most of the horses he’d seen in town didn’t look like this one. He thought if horses formed a society, this horse would be king. Everything about it bespoke strength and power. As mighty as the gate outside appeared, Cooper would not want to wager that this horse couldn’t pull it off its hinges. The horse shuffled his hooves, tossed his head and snorted. He appeared to be eager to be on his way, tired of being contained within the confines of the stable. As the horse shifted his hooves, stamping the ground, Cooper realized it would perhaps be wiser to stand further away in a position to better intercept the Lord General as he approached. No sooner than he ushered Loryn a few more steps further away he saw a large man in armor stride from the house toward the stable. Cooper turned to the stablehand and asked, “Sir, is that the Lord General?”. The man looked in the direction of the house and answered, “Yes, lad. It is.”. Cooper took a few steps forward to greet the Lord General and presented him with the rolled message. “Good day, your Lordship.”, and bowed his head respectfully. Loryn followed his example and curtsied.

  Lord General Hennit Arkady wasn’t a giant of a man in the way Master Loril was but he was certainly larger than most. Cooper had come to recognize that some people just looked bigger, or smaller, than they actually were. He had learned that this was something called ‘presence’. A commander that was truly in command would look bigger than he actually was, and someone shrinking away from danger usually looked smaller than they were. He wasn’t sure what to do with that information, but he had observed the truth of it. The Lord General was a large man but appeared to be fairly lean. At least his face had no softness to it. No excess swell to his cheeks and no sag under his chin. He looked to be in his fifties but wore his age very well. His hair was a uniform pale gray but was likely blond several years ago. His eyes were a clear blue, his nose could be described as regal if it weren’t so sharp in appearance. His mouth was a little wide and looked capable of both smiling and frowning expressively, though he gave the impression that a frown was most common. His jawline was square and his chin was strong. In all ways he had the appearance of being able to take a solid punch and merely be irritated that someone had bothered him, just before he crushed them in response. The Lord General quickly perused the message, muttered a quick, and almost silent, curse and rolled the message back up and tucked it behind his belt. He realized that he had no pouch and commanded the stablehand, “Pay them.”. The Lord General stepped forward to take the reins and control the horse while the stablehand dug through his purse for two coppers. The horse seemed to calm immediately as the Lord General stroked its cheeks and nose. Cooper accepted the coppers from the stablehand with a nod of his head, turned and bowed again to the Lord General, “Thank you, your Lordship.”, and started walking back to the gate. Loryn bowed her head and curtsied again and then rushed to catch up to him. Partway to the gate he stopped and looked back toward the stable. He was curious and wanted to watch the Lord General mount the large horse. He looked back just in time to see the Lord General bringing his unstirruped leg over the horse and place his foot in the stirrup. Cooper turned toward the gate again and started walking. The stable hand was ensuring that the Lord General’s feet were firmly within the hoops of the stirrups and once satisfied the stable hand saluted the Lord General, who returned his salute and rode toward the gate. At the sound of the horse’s hooves striking the ground, Cooper turned around again to make sure that they were out of the path of the approaching horse and rider. They were but Cooper shifted to position Loryn slightly behind him until the Lord General had passed. Then they resumed their walk back to the Scrivener’s shop.

  As they walked through the Trade Quarter they passed a tavern with an open air bar out front. Several merchants had gathered to have a pint and listen to a minstrel that was performing. The man was skillfully playing a lute and his sorrow-filled voice sang with a slight lilting accent:

  With darkness in his heart

  But a beggar’s only friend,

  Watching over you and I

  The Kinsman’s kith and kin.

  With eyes as dark as night

  On your corpse he pays your toll,

  One Copper for your passage,

  Another for your soul.

  Cooper had stopped to listen. He wanted to stay longer but Loryn was pulling him along saying that they needed to get back for class. She as right, of course, but he still wanted to listen to more of the song. As he allowed her to pull him along he told her to lead them back to the shop from here.

  Upon their return to the classroom, the only person within was Master Worthan. He informed them that the rest of the class had gone to the Training Room for their scheduled lessons. He added, “Most, but not all, of the students had already returned from their deliveries.”.

  Chapter 12

  Cooper led Loryn quickly to the Training Room. Upon their arrival, Mister Skran welcomed them with a nod, paired her back with Aden and sent Cooper to Mister Strawman with instructions to stretch and then practice. He then said, for his benefit, “You’ll be expected to demonstrate once everyone returns. If not today, then tomorrow.”. Apparently Mister Skran was aware that they’d all been out delivering messages.

  Within fifteen minutes, he started to feel like his movements were fast and smooth again, so he worked on increasing his speed. As he tried he felt like he was trying to grasp something that was just out of reach. As if he knew he could move faster but something prevented him. Like wind blowing through a doorway that was partially closed. The wind could move through faster, if only the door could be opened the rest of the way.

  He heard Mister Skran call out, “All right everyone. Stop what you’re doing and come here.” Mister Skran had been standing less than ten feet from him and Cooper had no idea. He might have been watching me for the last several minutes for all he knew. He turned and faced Mister Skran, but his eyes searched the faces of his classmates. He looked until he’d identified Birt, Aden, Loryn and Boyd. He saw Birt move to a spot where he could see Cooper but had a clearer view of Boyd’s face. He was glad Birt remembered.

  Mister Skran told the class, “You will be spending some of your time each lesson working with Mister Strawman as your partner. As you can see along this wall, Mister Strawman has three brothers. They all bear the same name. Apparently their parents had no imagination.”. He paused but no one laughed at his little joke. He continued, “The advantage to this training is that you can hit him without hurting him, but the
focus of training with him is to develop proper technique and speed.”. He paused again to let the information sink in. “I named those factors, proper technique and speed, in that order because that’s the order of importance. If you’re fast but your kick is poorly aimed or you strike lands from a poor angle, a portion of the power of your strike will be deflected somewhere other than into your target. In other words, your strike will be made weaker. So as you work with Mister Strawman, you will start slowly, trying to improve your technique. Once you have done so, you will increase your speed just to the point where you become sloppy again. You’ll then maintain that speed and repeat the combinations until you have improved your technique at that speed, then increase your speed again and so on and so forth. Mister Cooper has only been working with Mister Strawman since yesterday and just a few minutes today.”. He turned to look at Cooper and gestured that he should proceed.

  Cooper squared off with Mister Strawman and relaxed his muscles. He visualized himself flashing through the combination, concentrated on finding his Flow, and then he surged forward. Kick, strike, strike. And then he was done and stepped back. Several students gasped a little bit and Cooper wondered if he had made a mistake. He looked at Mister Skran and saw his teacher simply standing there watching. The hood he always wore prevented Cooper from seeing his expression. Mister Skran uttered one word, “Again.”. He didn’t hesitate. He turned to face Mister Strawman and executed. Kick, strike, strike. He turned back to Mister Skran expectantly, but the instructor was already turning to face the class. “Alright. You’ve seen the combination. You’ll practice with one another as you have been. Periodically I will send some of you to practice this combination with Mister Strawman. I will make corrections to your movements as needed. Are there any questions?”. He paused. “No? Then pair up and begin.”.