Mage Assassin Chapter 6

After spending some time looking around the stalls, I decided I’d given myself a good enough alibi and travelled home by cart. By the time I reached my estate, the dusk had turned into night, and I was in high spirits as I walked into the reception.

I’d not only done what the Master asked, but I’d kept to my track record, too. It was almost exactly one hour after nightfall.

I wasn’t sure if it was the notoriety giving me such a high, or the fact that I had proven something to myself, but what I did know was that I was feeling on top of the world this evening.

“Mazne,” I boomed as I closed the door behind me.

“Oh, Dex!” Mazne said and rushed around the counter to see me. She fumbled her hands across my face, and lifted up my eyelids to check if I was alright.

“Uh, are you okay?” I asked as I pawed her hands off of my face.

The receptionist threw her arms back around me and gave me a tight squeeze, and I struggled to get her off me, but she wouldn’t budge.

“I only found out after you left!” Mazne screamed. “I didn’t know you were going to kill a dragonkin. Has anyone in this house ever actually done it? Has anyone ever actually come out of it alive? You must tell me everything!”

Mazne was like my sister, which meant that sometimes Mazne was also just as doting as a sister was.

“I will tell you everything,” I chuckled at her giddiness.

Then I unravelled her hands from my waist so I could head over to the desk, and I pulled my disguise out of my bag and handed it to Mazne while she eagerly waited for me to continue.

“So what happened?” Mazne pressed, and she chucked the clothes into a large bag behind her before cupping her hands under her chin to listen close. “It’s nice to see you made it out alive!”

“For a second I didn’t think I was going to,” I admitted. “But it was a pretty easy kill if I’m being honest. Just an arrow to the heart, and it was done.”

“You defeated him with one arrow?” she marvelled.

“He did put up a fight,” I clarified. “It was certainly a challenge and required the careful reading of my opponent’s actions, but he behaved as I anticipated, so I came out the victor.”

Mazne rolled her eyes, but she knew I wasn't much of a show off. I usually tended to keep my business to myself, but Mazne had a knack of prying for information, and I wasn’t going to get away without telling her everything she wanted to know.

“And what did it look like?” Mazne said as she nudged my arm across the desk. “Were his eyes all gangly and gross? Did he explode?”

“He was massive,” I laughed. “Probably eight feet tall, and no, he didn’t have gangly eyes. They were the brightest yellow I have ever seen, and he sprayed a strange sort of acidic substance that was capable of melting stone away.”

“He sprayed the acid at you?” Mazne gasped with wide eyes.

“Toward me, yes,” I confirmed. “I avoided getting injured, though.”

“Oh my gosh, that is amazing,” she gawked. “I can’t believe Dex Morgan, our very own Dex Morgan, killed a dragonkin!”

I laughed at her outrageous excitement, but I couldn’t deny that her enthusiasm was contagious.

“Thanks, Maz,” I chuckled. “It was a bit cool, but as you know, coolness is less important than follow-through. What matters most is that this dragonkin will no longer prey on the innocent--”

“Oh sure,” Mazne scoffed. “That’s all well and good, but you’re not even injured! You lived, Dex, and with only a bow and arrow on you, too! Show me one man in all this kingdom who--”

“Hey, can you tell the Master I’m back?” I cut her off before she could swoon over the events anymore. “I’ll run down to see him now.”

The woman behind the desk flustered her hands up to the sky.

“Of course, of course,” Mazne stammered. “I’ll get on that now. Give it five minutes so I can run the message to him, and then go.”

“Thanks, Maz,” I said and turned to sit in the open reception area.

“No problem, dragonkin slayer,” she shouted and ran to tell the Master the news.

I smiled as I sat on a golden chair and flung my tools off my back. I always forgot how heavy they were until the weight of them was lifted off me. I took off my cloak and shoved it in my satchel, and then I cracked my knuckles one by one. I focused on the sound of the cicadas that echoed through the room and thought about what I had just achieved.

There were very few moments in my life where I actually stopped and commended myself for my bravery and efforts. I mostly just came back from a task, trained some more, and went to sleep, but this time was different. It was the first time in a while that I actually knew nobody else in this estate could have done what I had.

I looked over at Vulnus, who sat on the opposite end of the reception area. The lanky old assassin was dressed as a farmhand today, and his overalls were stained with manure while he wiped a bloody dagger off on a rag.

“Who was it today, then?” I asked the old assassin. “A landlord?”

“Nah, the troubadour that lives next door to his farm,” Vulnus said with a raspy tone and a toothy grin. “Been tellin’ unsavory tales about the daughter. Poor girl’s not but fifteen, just starting to come out in society and whatnot. Man needed that loose tongue of his taken care of.”

“Ahh.” I nodded in understanding.

Vulnus went back to polishing his blade, and I glanced over at the tapestries to keep my mind busy, but I could hardly relax at the moment.

I whistled a little tune and tried to steady the constant flow of adrenaline I had coursing through my veins, and within a few moments, Mazne came back in with a huge grin plastered on her pretty face.

“Go on, the Master’s waiting,” the receptionist announced. “From what I can see, you have a boatload full of gold coins waiting, too.”

I nodded my thanks, gathered my things, and made my way to the Master’s office. Then I gave the door three taps and waited.

“Come in, Dex,” Master Abbot called from the other side.

I stepped into the office and tried not to look too proud of myself. Diplomacy went a long way in the estate, and nobody liked a show off. Master wasn’t a very excitable man, either, and he was never the type to throw huge, congratulatory parties for anyone. After all, our job was to kill, and doing our job was expected of us.

“I must say congratulations,” Master Abbot calmly stated from behind his desk. He was seated with his hands folded on his lap, and he looked much more tired than he had when I left earlier this day.

“Thank you.” I bowed.

An extra large pouch of gold coins sat on the desk between us. It wasn’t exactly the boatload Mazne had told me it was, but it was more than I would ever need. That one kill alone would set me up for at least two years if I kept within my means, which I always did.

“So…” the Master trailed. “How did it go?”

“Well, the dragonkin spotted me, first,” I started and took a seat opposite him. “I didn’t have time to get in the appropriate position.”

“I see,” the Master replied with a forlorn tone.

“So, I had to shoot him from close range,” I continued, “and got him in the chest. One shot, just like always.”

“Very well done,” he chuckled with a tired smile, and I noticed he looked more wary than usual.

“Yeah, at first I thought he had me,” I returned, and I couldn’t mask my excitement. “He sprayed out this tar, and it nearly hit me, but I jumped out the way, and it’s a good thing I did. The substance he sprayed burned straight through the stone wall behind me. It was a lucky escape, really.”

“I don’t think ‘lucky’ is a word an assassin like you should be using,” the Master sighed. “Not with the amount of training you’ve undergone.”

“But before that,” I carried on, “I was sitting behind the wall, trying to see where the dragonkin was, and what I didn’t realize was he went out for a hunt. He came back and saw me crouched in front of the wall with my back unfortunately turned.”

“And that’s when it sprayed you?” the Master asked.

“Yep, exactly.” I grinned. “So, I had two options. Run away or battle, and I couldn’t do the first option because I mirrored into a man whose bones ached too much, so I let the dragonkin come after me. Stood my ground, because I knew how hungry he really was, and then I shot. One arrow, straight to the chest, and the beast fell like a tree. Well, an oozing, tarrish tree.”

“I’m glad it worked out for you,” the Master uttered, and once again, I caught a wary look about him. “I must admit, I was slightly worried when you left. You know, none of the other assassins here has ever killed a dragonkin, and you just went out and did it without surveying the area for the usual week or so. Well done.”

I nodded in appreciation, but when the Master didn’t smile back, I saw through him. He was trying to keep the conversation light, but his tone and slight frown gave him away. Usually, I wouldn’t bother him about the other work he had on his mind, but something was different this time. I could sense it.

“What’s happened?” I blurted out. “Something’s the matter.”

“Well,” the Master pursed his lips. “We’ve had another job given to us, one that I couldn’t really turn down. You are the best man for the task, but it’s not a task I would like to give to anyone, most importantly you.”

My excitement shifted to worry as the Master titled his head to look at me. He had always been forthright with his jobs, but he was stalling for some reason. Suddenly, all the valour and gold of my dragonkin slaying left my mind completely, and I shifted my full attention to the challenge of my next task.

“What is the job?” I asked outright.

“I had a visit from a client not long after you left,” Master Abbot admitted. “Well… a representative of a client.”

“What client?” I asked.

“How much do you know about the Ardere of Ignis?” the old mage replied.

I’d heard about the Ardere of Ignis a long time ago, back when I was a boy, but I thought it was just myth. In all my time in the kingdom, I had never heard of anyone who actually found it.

I remembered the Master speaking about the place once. The story he told me had something to do with a field made from gold, and many people wanted the glory of the gold, but nobody ever made it through the forest to get there. I wasn’t sure if I remembered the story right, since it was so many years ago, but there were times when I’d think about an entire field made of gold, and I’d wonder if there really could have been such a thing.

“I know very little besides the name,” I answered. “I thought it was just folklore.”

“It is very much real,” the Master confessed.

“Oh.” I nodded as casually as possible. “So… this is the place where the fields are made of gold, correct? That part is… real also?”

“Something of that nature,” the Master laughed. “Looks gold, at least.”

“I see,” I said as my curiosity increased.

“The Ardere of Ignis is in the forest,” he divulged. “A few miles into the forest.”

I tried not to wince at the thought of stepping in that unforgiving territory. People of the kingdom barely survived going a few yards into the Forest of Hud without protection, and even then, they felt uneasy for days.

“If it is in the forest, is it still part of the kingdom?” I asked.

“Of course,” the Master nodded. “But let’s just say the beings from that estate are too volatile, too destructive, too… filled with fire, to integrate with other societies well. Their estate was carved out for them many centuries ago, and there they live in their own kind of peace.”

“So, the Ardere of Ignis is its own little kingdom away from our little kingdom,” I concluded.

“Exactly,” the Master returned. “But in that little kingdom is where the fire titan lives, along with the rest of his estate.”

“A titan as in a god?” I asked.

“Former god,” he corrected. “Ignis is the fire titan who is the third brother of Helios and Harvester of the Sun. Nowadays, he dwells in the physical world, and rules over his Ardere. He has probably bred many children, like they all do, and many of his associates and workers also live there under his rule. They may not be as highly regarded as Ignis, but the rest of his estate are just as powerful.”

“Deities?” I posed.

“Some deities, yes…” he trailed. “But there are others, too, and all creatures born of fire. The spirits and entities roam around the Ardere, and can be very dangerous, but I cannot say how many for certain because Ocadia has very little communication with them. What I do know is there are many fiery types in residence, and they all hail Ignis as their ruler.”

“So, Ignis is our client,” I surmised. “What is the task you want me to do for him?”

“Ah yes, the task,” the Master muttered, and he shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. “Ignis has asked for his niece, Cinis, to be killed.”

“His own niece?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes, she is an Ember Priestess and descendant of the holy fire deities,” Master Abbot said with another wary look.

I blinked at the old mage for a moment as the weight of his statement pressed on my shoulders.

A descendant of the deities. That was my next target.

“And… she presides in the Ardere,” I finished for him.

“In the fields of the Ardere, yes,” he corrected.

“And why are we to murder this Ember Priestess?”

“Apparently, she’s too cunning, too violent, and too chaotic,” Master Abbot proceeded to explain. “I have been told that if she is not culled soon, she could cause irreparable damage to the Kingdom of Ocadia.”

“She is going to travel here?” I clarified and narrowed my eyes. “This is confirmed?”

“I endeavored to confirm this all, but there is no water within miles of the Ardere of Ignis that I could read through,” Master Abbot replied. “Were I a hundred years younger, I would travel there myself to verify the details, however, Ignis is a former god, and I am… well, mortal. More mortal every moment, it would seem.”

“I understand,” I assured him. “I only wish to be thorough.”

“As you should be, Dex,” the Master agreed. “But to answer your question, no, I don’t know when or how Cinis intends to descend on Ocadia, only that she poses an imminent threat to our community. She has been plotting against us, and the titan has figured it out, hence why he sent a representative to tell us about it. Should she gain enough power and attack the kingdom at her leisure, the result would be too immense for us to combat without risking hundreds of lives. Ignis’ followers would be blamed, and I can confirm, at the very least, that war would break out between our king and the fire titan. By sending you, we ensure Cinis is caught off guard and dealt with swiftly. As always.”

“I can’t imagine putting a hit on your niece would be the easiest thing to do,” I hummed.

“I agree,” the Master replied, and I scruffed my hair around for a moment while I processed all this.

There were a few descendants I’d met in my lifetime. All of them resided within the kingdom’s city barriers, and all had different strengths and weaknesses. Some were descendants of Venus, who gave fertility and life to the kingdom. Another roamed in the northern quarters and was a descendant of Bacchus, the God of Wine and Ecstasy. Another stemmed from the great Hermes, who helped look after the livestock, and the other descendant of Erebus, roamed over the eastern quarters and helped the darkness to thrive.

Though several hundred descendants of the gods didn’t live within the kingdom, there were plenty who did.

Still, a direct contact from a genuine titan meant this mission could be the difference between life and death for the masses.

And for myself.

If I wasn’t successful the first time around, I would probably bear the brunt of the a thousand flames that would burn into me until I succumbed to death.

“Hmm,” I mused with a furrowed brow. “I suppose this isn’t a job I can reasonably turn down, given the imminent threat to the kingdom.”

“There is more,” the Master poised himself on the desk and looked at me.

“What is it?” I returned somewhat uneasily.

“It can’t look like Cinis was assassinated,” he explained. “Especially not with just a bow and arrow.”

“So, what am I supposed to use?” I asked.

“It’s your choice.” He smiled. “But it has to look like the subject killed her in self defense. Her death should appear to be an unfortunate and sudden occurrence. If the rest of the Ardere, or the fire gods in the clouds, found out she was killed for a price, life would not be worth living for either of us. The gods would have a lot to answer for from their own people, both on the ground and up in the skies. Ignis fears an uprising could occur if this isn’t handled delicately. This is why he’s hired us. We are entirely disconnected from the Ardere, and we are not so official that our actions could be pinned on the king himself. I am told this Ember Priestess has preyed on plenty of innocent passersby who got lost in the Forest of Hud. This time… the prey will win out.”

“I see.” I nodded. “A sword might be better, then.”

“I think so.” He nodded in agreement.

“Master, I have to speak my mind,” I said and stood up from my chair. “Are you certain this is a job we should really be taking on? We don’t usually do staged attacks, and I fear that if anything goes wrong, it will backfire greatly on us.”

“I have thought thoroughly about that,” Master Abbot sighed.

“We rarely dabble with higher powers,” I continued, “especially descendants of deities.”

“There is a risk in everything we do,” the Master said, stood, and met me around my side of the desk. “But we take them anyway, because it is what we have been trained to do. Where others may perish, we tread lightly with great skill to complete the perilous tasks at hand.”

He raised his hand and showed me his palm, and the strange marking reappeared before my eyes and glowed slightly.

I looked at mine too, but there was nothing there anymore. No symbol or anything. Instead, it was blank, like a clean piece of slate.

“You hurt yesterday,” the Master started again. “You trusted the process, and although you have nothing to show for it today, you will in the future. That is the same with this task. There’s a risk that the titans will hear about it, there is a chance the folks in the Ardere will also, but it is a risk we have to take if it means keeping the kingdom out of the clutches of Cinis.”

“For the Kingdom of Ocadia.” I smiled and showed him my palm.

“Everything we do is for the best of Ocadia,” he returned. “And you are the best for the job because you can disguise yourself, which means nobody will even think twice about your appearance around there.”

“I agree,” I nodded. “But I don’t have a uniform. How do we even know what the residents of the Ardere look like?”

The Master pushed his hand up his sleeve and shuffled to the desk. He reached into the last draw and pulled out a uniform. It was bright red and had live flames that soared from it. He laid it out on the table for me to look at it more closely.

At the top there was a lapelled jacket, which had a tail that dropped to the floor and pooled out into a pit of flames, while the collar reflected a blue heat. The buttons in the middle were made from hot coals and glowed orange and gray. The trousers attached were fitted, and the cuffs burned just as brightly as the jacket while the top underneath was orange and made of simple fibers. It was the most showy outfit I had ever seen, but showiness had always been a trait of the descendants of gods.

“Wow,” I muttered.

“Quite the showstopper,” the Master graciously responded.

“Does it hurt to touch?” I asked and held my finger near the flame.

“It is entirely made for wearing, it will not burn you,” the Master informed me. “Though I must say, the same can’t be said for the outfits the true villagers of the Ardere wear. So, be careful they don’t touch you, and you don’t touch them.”

“I cannot mirror,” I realized. “I have to just walk in there looking as I am?”

“Not quite,” the Master told me. “Here is another uniform to wear as an alternative. Consider it your insurance, depending on the situation you find yourself in.”

The Master handed me an outfit made from chainmail and leather. It was a lot sturdier and less uncomfortable than the flaming outfit beside, and a lot less flashy.

“What is this?” I asked.

“It is a knight’s uniform from the Kingdom of Altaya in the distant south,” he told me. “Before you leave this kingdom, you will mirror any person of your choosing, and at your convenience, you will don this knight’s uniform once you are on your way. This way, if you find yourself in a situation that becomes rather difficult to get out of, the fallback will lay on a kingdom that is not ours.”

I smirked at the idea and took the garments off the Master, and then I neatly folded them on the desk beside my gold payment.

“Thank you.” I nodded.

“Now, I have other meetings to attend to,” the Master sighed heavily. “Other assassins who have come back from jobs and need their payments. Sleep well this evening, and embark before first light tomorrow. The sooner this business is dealt with, the better.”

“I agree,” I said with a nod, and I collected my things. “How do I find Cinis and the Ardere of Ignis?”

“You do not need a map,” the wise man said in a hushed whisper. “I have made a deal with the forest. Travel south a ways, and listen to the trees. They shall guide you to where you need to go. When you arrive at the fields, avoid Ignis’ castle at all cost. His representative said Cinis lives apart from the masses in her home near the forest’s edge. It has a flaming roof.”

I bowed in gratitude before I left the Master’s office, but as I headed through the corridors to my room, I barely noticed the weight of the gold I’d just earned today.

The dragonkin felt years behind me, and directly ahead was my journey into the Forest of Hud and to the Ardere of Ignis.

Then staging the death of an Ember Priestess.

I awoke three and a half hours before sunup the following morning.

I thought I would have a restless sleep, but my body seemed determined to keep me at peak performance for my upcoming journey. I slept like a rock, and now I stood before my ivy-covered wall and considered the swords, spears, and throwing stars in front of me.

If I were to kill such a ferocious force, and in the way the Master ordered me to, then a bow and arrow was out of the question.

I thought about the descendants who lived freely in the kingdom. They were taller than most, but still only by a small part. It wasn’t as if I was killing something as big as the dragonkin, and the descendant would most likely look human like the others. It was the power and strength of this Ember Priestess that I would have to guess on.

I ambled up to the weapons and thought thoroughly about what I might need. I ruled out throwing stars on the basis that I would have to be in close combat with the target, and relying on the throwing stars would mean attacking from a distance and hoping the victim wouldn’t return the fight.

No, I needed something much more reliable than that. Something with more precision.

I filtered my eyes through the rage of pointed metals. The machete was too heavy and would draw too much attention, as with the dao. I held my hand out toward the wall and watched as the ivy retracted a little more. Now, my collection of daggers was fully revealed, and I ran my hand through the many different shapes and sizes until I found the right choice.

It was rather unextraordinary to look at, with a double-edged blade that came to a point. It was made of steel, and the handle was made of brass. It used to have the skull of a goat engraved at the base, but this dagger was my most used back-up, and the carving had worn away to just a circular bobble.

I grabbed it off the rack, chose a dagger sheath from the stash in my trunk below, and secured both to my belt. Then I searched for more. This dagger wasn’t going to be my main weapon, but being prepared was the key to survival.

I scooped up another, longer dagger that had just one sharpened edge and a bamboo handle. I secured this one in a second sheath beside the previous choice, and then I looked for my short sword.

My short sword was about triple the length of my longest dagger, and running down the middle of the blade was leather that had been soaked in pig’s blood and tampered with by the alchemists. I had never used it before, but I was told one incision would cause a thousand squeals to be implanted in the chest of the target. The sound would scratch away at the insides of their brains and cause them to implode. It was a rather vulgar method, especially as an assassin, but nevertheless, I unhooked it from the vines and shoved it into another sheath.

Aside from the occasionally tampered with arrowhead, I wasn’t usually apt to using other magic than my mirroring powers on the job. Others in the estate often did to satisfy their own enjoyment when it came to more unsavory targets, and I wasn’t wholly opposed to the idea. I’d actually used strange magical items and mixtures in quite a few jobs in the past, but I just preferred to rely on my raw skills in most cases. This kept me precise and clean in my execution, whereas having too many magical elements in the mix tended to make my peers a bit sloppy with their work.

Still efficient, but sloppy.

However, for such a big task as I had ahead of me, I secured the tampered shortsword with the rest of my weapons and went on to find the next.

My eyes caught on the throwing stars once more, and I sighed as I relented and grabbed just one. After all, I’d never been tasked to kill a descendant of the gods before, and if I wanted to ensure my success in defeating this Ember Priestess, then I would have to be more prepared than ever.

The last weapon I chose would be the biggest I brought with me, and ideally, my main tool in combat. I knew it had to be a sword of some description if my staging would be convincing, and after sweeping through my collection a couple times, I ended up discounting most of them.

It would be either a longsword or a broadsword.

“Which one would work better?” I thought aloud as I weighed the two choices.

My longsword’s blade was black and reflective, and it had a subtle curve midway up. It was good if I needed to get my distance on the beast, but it only had a single edge to it. The curve meant I would need to slice in a certain angle for maximum efficiency, but I didn’t mind that. It was also pretty lightweight for its size, and I had used it ample times before, so I was comfortable wielding it with precision. It was overall a reliable and trustworthy blade, and it allowed me to stay a few feet away and still slay my target.

But then there was a broadsword.

The one I had my eye on was gold in color, and not bright like freshly polished gold, but more like the bronzed gold of a statue that had weathered the elements for many years. The blade was both flatter and sharper than my longsword, and although it had a similar curve, it was broader in width. It was also considerably shorter, slightly heavier, and a style that might crop up anywhere in any kingdom.

Which meant I could leave it at the scene of the crime without really leaving any trace as to who it belonged to.

I sheathed the gold broadsword on my belt, adjusted my uniform, and put my garb in my satchel before I set off for the job ahead.

“Going again so early?” Mazne asked from the reception desk, and she stifled a yawn.

“Yes.” I nodded as I reached for the door with a slight urgency.

The sun wouldn’t rise for three more hours, and the forest would be dense and dark at this time of morning, but I didn’t want to waste another moment. I would need all the time I could spare today.

“Well, be safe,” Mazne called while I headed out.

“Always am,” I assured her.