108Calen was disguised in a crowd full of people. He was currently in the market. The young assassin had followed his 'assignment' into the market. Calen crinkled his nose disgustedly, smelling some of the rot and feces that was left around the market he was in. He was in the slaves' section, therefore the smell. He wanted to get this done as fast as possible. He considered killing people a tedious chore that he simply had to do for the betterment of the family. If he could have picked anything as what he wanted to be, Calen would say he wanted to be an ordinary mage without his assassins skills. It would make him happy to be just that. He loved magic but the killing part was the one he didn't like.
The assassin sighed as his 'assignment' moved to another part of the market. This time, a less savory place. It was filled with multitudes of homeless people. Those people, would sit on the cobblestones of the houses and beg for money, food or whatever they could come by. The streets were in disrepair. Calen wanted to send a letter to the mayor to make him aware of all the troubles in the neighborhood. Not that the mayor would do anything about it, Calen snorted.
The man, Lord Gaysburry, his assignment, headed to a tavern. Calen sighed and went in with him. The man was still unaware that he was being followed, his follower waiting for the first opportunity to kill the man when there was not going to be any witnesses.
Calen was a patient boy, he would wait all afternoon if he had to. It was just his way. He learned from when they were very young, he had to be patient or a lot of things would not get done. Uncle Jayber had drilled patience into them since they were old enough to train in the practice courtyard with the other children.
The man sat on a wooden bench in the tavern and signaled for the maid in there to give him a mug of beer. Calen went in and sat down in a corner, watching the man. The man's eyes were cold and calculating. His eyes made a sweep of the place, but his eyes never stayed on any one person for too long. Even on Calen, he never suspected anything. That was a sad thing. For a man who was reputed to be a very canny man at spotting danger, he couldn't spot Calen among the people sitting in the common room of the tavern. Already, Calen was thinking that this was too easy. He felt uneasiness stir inside of him.
Something was not right. If his reputation was that good...what could it mean for him to not spot Calen from his near proximity with the assassin? This was not making any sense, unless the man already knew that Calen would be coming for him and he was on his guard already but he was not showing it? Calen cursed silently in his head. He knew then, that he would have to retreat for a time. He got up and proceeded to walk out of the door, admitting the fact that his quarry was lost for the day.
"Friend, you are not leaving so soon are you?" he heard a voice behind him say in a genial tone.
It was Lord Gaysburry's voice. No one else in the tavern had a voice so cultured and accented as a noble but Lord Gaysburry. Calen turned to look at the man, cocking his head to one side.
"Aye," Calen said, adopting a boorish accent. "Ah've got sommut to do other than sit 'ere and look at people!"
"But you're not just an ordinary man are you?" the man said in a satisfied tone. "I know who you really are. You've come to kill me, whether I will or not."
Calen raised an eyebrow at the man's brashness. He would think to demand his reason for being in a tavern? Boys his age had frequented taverns since the dawn of time. It was not a seldom seen sight; it was in fact a very common sight.
"Really milord?" Calen asked, going wide eyed. "Why bless me! But the lord know who I am!"
The men in there laughed just shook his head, said his thanks to Lord Gaysburry and hurried on out. It was such a tedious affair. Calen sighed, he would have to wait for tonight or he would have to wait for tomorrow. Luck would have to let him decide. That and how wary the man was.
With that somewhat concluded, Calen went back home to report to his father and eat his midday he went in searching for cook in the kitchens. He was way past time to have a meal but cook gave him something to fill his empty stomach with. It was chicken pie, one of cook's best and Calen loved to eat it. It was after all his favorite.
Next, he went to report to his father. He knocked on the door to his father's study. He was the head of the clan and as such, he dealed with the clan's treasury and everything else that pertained to the outward eyes, the Shikkart Clan was a merchant family that had grown wealthy because they knew who best to trade with and sell things with. They were so wealthy the king had given the clan lands to live by. Inwardly, the Shikkart Clan was really a family of assassins undercover of that pertext King Jaymin gave them to continue their work in private.
"Come in," a distracted voice said from inside the study.
The twin opened the door and went into the study, looking about for his father in the maze of book shelves.
"Father?" Calen called out, standing by the door, unwilling to go and search for his in this mess.
"I'm right here," Gaiver said, emerging from the book shelves to the right. "How was your assignment? Did Lord Gayburry give you any trouble?"
"Actually, I will have to go back tomorrow," Calen told him, frowning into the distance. "He's too canny by half and knew who I was. I had to leave or he would have given me away. We'd have to move ourselves someplace else and I didn't want that."
Gaiver frowned. "He knew? And yet he didn't shout out assassin in front of everybody?"
"I'm but thirteen Pa. Him accusing me of being a murderer is still a bit of a far shot, even if there are some who does do it for a living, like a do. Only they die long before they reach the age of eighteen," Calen told his father in a matter-of-fact tone.
"True. But still," Gaiver muttered under his breath. "He must have something in mind...Don't go tonight, it will be a trap."
"Pa? What is it?" Calen asked him, frowning at him in concern and going to him.
Gaiver waved his son off witha firm hand. "Na. There's nothing wrong with me. It's just some things with the king again. Jaymin is really demanding no? I must have this done and that done..."
The man words trailed off and he looked out into the window. Calen waited patiently for his father to say something else. But the man seemed to have forgotten him already, dismissing him clearly when he went back into his mess of book shelves. Calen just left the study and went to take an midday nap. He wanted to rest, so then he wouldn't be too exhausted when they had dinner tonight.
And maybe he'd ask his father if he could still go out tonight and finish off Lord Gaysburry. He really wanted this assignment to get done with. The assignment was beginning to take an ugly turn, he could see that. When someone from the Shikkart Clan could not kill the one the king had ordered to be killed that same day, there was always bound to be trouble.
Calen pushed those thoughts away wearily and went to bed. He fell asleep to a dream of bad tidings. Tidings that would ruin his family forever. When he woke up later, he could not remember the dream and thus thought that it was just a nightmare.
Not until it was already too late.