Imperial Assassin (25 page)

‘Lords and Ladies of the Imperial Court, thank you for your time. I will not keep you any longer from your day. My door will be open to any who wish to speak with me on this
matter.’

Reynik felt a sense of dread building inside him as the Guildmaster led him down the corridor away from Brother Viper’s quarters. At the end of the corridor was a door.
It opened into a dark, stable-like booth in which Brother Viper was standing next to a solitary chair. The booth looked out into a large chamber with a central podium.

The Guildmaster acknowledged Viper’s bow with a nod as he passed through the booth. Without pausing, he opened the gate out into the chamber and led Reynik out towards the podium. As he
walked forward, Reynik noted the other booths around the outer wall of the chamber. There seemed to be lots of them, each with a different animal symbol on its gate and on the wall above it.

Reynik turned around to look at the symbols. A cougar, a wolf, a bear, a firedrake, a falcon, an eagle, an owl, a fox – they were all predators. Finally it made sense. His eyes settled for
a moment on the dragon motif on one of the gates and he shivered. Alarm bells sounded in his head as he looked at the dragon. He had seen that symbol before. ‘Shalidar!’ he thought, the
sense of impending doom momentarily shattering, as a wave of hatred surged through him. His mind flashed back to Mantor and the house Shalidar had owned there. The house had sported many pictures,
images and ornaments featuring dragons. The reason for the assassin’s interest in them was suddenly clear. The dragon was his symbol.

The slightest of movements in the darkness of the dragon booth brought Reynik back to the present. Had he been staring? He hoped not. He should have realised the booths would be occupied. If
Shalidar recognised him, he was as good as dead. Would Shalidar recognise him, though? It was unlikely. They had only met properly once, when Reynik had been pretending to be the representative of
a wealthy client for Shalidar’s services. Reynik did not believe their encounter on the Palace rooftop counted, as Shalidar had barely glanced at him before running away. No. The link was too
tenuous. They were hundreds of leagues from their last meeting, and Reynik had since changed his appearance. There was little likelihood of Shalidar linking him to their brief encounter in
Mantor.

The Guildmaster had climbed up onto his pulpit-like podium. Reynik remained at the base of the steps. He tried not to look nervous, though his apprehension was building again. It was hard to
know where to look, as he did not want to be seen to be staring at anything in particular. Also, there was the difficulty of what to do with his hands. It felt wrong to have them by his sides, but
if he put them behind his back it might be seen to be a military stance, which was something to be avoided. If he clasped them together, he knew he would fiddle with his fingers. His palms were
already slick with nervous sweat. What was to happen next? The Guildmaster had not primed him with any details.

The Guildmaster’s voice suddenly punched out into the dim hall. ‘I accept . . .’ There was a slight pause, then a number of voices joined together in a ritualistic chant that
Reynik realised must be the infamous Assassins’ creed. He listened to the words, fascinated by some of the phrasing. If the assassins were bound by these words, then it was clear that
Shalidar had been treading a dangerous path over recent months.

The final words rang around the chamber. Reynik’s chest tightened, his nervousness heightening by the second. Where was the binding stone the Guildmaster had spoken of? It did not appear
to be in this chamber. How did it work? Would the binding be painful, or disorienting, like his first magical transfer into the Guild headquarters?

‘Brothers, this is a good day. We welcome in a new Brother to our Guild. Please, walk around the central podium, young friend.’

Reynik did as he was told. He walked slowly, keeping his face impassive and his eyes straight ahead. He did not allow his eyes to linger on the dragon emblem this time, but swept past it as he
did all the others until he was back where he had started.

‘You have all had a chance to see his face. Does anyone know of any reason why this man should not be acceptable as a member of our Guild?’

Reynik’s heart thumped in his chest. Would Shalidar say anything? Had his uncle’s killer recognised him? Precious seconds of silence passed unbroken. Apparently he had not.

‘Very well.’ The Guildmaster looked down at Reynik. ‘You may raise your hood,’ he said solemnly. ‘Do not lower it again in this chamber. Step forward, Brothers, and
we will proceed to the naming room.’

The Guildmaster stepped down from his podium and led Reynik over to the wall between the bear and the griffin alcoves. The wall looked to be solid rock. Reynik could see no sign of a way
forward, but he was not about to make a fool of himself by saying anything aloud. The Guildmaster drew something from beneath his cloak and waved his hand in a peculiar gesture at the wall. Reynik
itched to see what it was that the Guildmaster held, but there were a dozen assassins standing close behind him. He did not want to do anything that might be misinterpreted.

In the blink of an eye, a section of the wall vanished, leaving a dark, door-shaped hole. Reynik had gone beyond being astonished. It appeared there was a lot to this complex that defied
everyday understanding. What had happened to the wall? Had it been an illusion all along? Had a section of it been transported away using the same sort of magic as the talismans possessed? The
question was irrelevant, he decided. The Guildmaster was leading him forward into the dark passageway. His concern was what awaited him at the far end.

As they entered the blackness of the stone passageway, Reynik realised that it was not totally dark. There was a dim glow emanating from somewhere ahead that lit their way sufficiently for them
to see where they were going.

When they entered the chamber at the far end of the passage, the contrast from the meeting chamber was startling. Where the meeting chamber had been clearly dug out and fashioned with the tools
of man, this chamber looked as if it were a naturally formed cave. Irregular walls glowed with an eerie green light that Reynik took to be either natural, chemically made, or magical in nature. No
fire he had ever seen burned with such a colour, but then there were no flames. It almost seemed as if the rocks themselves were glowing.

For a moment, Reynik’s mind wandered back to the Royal Court in Thrandor and Femke’s trial. Alchemist Pennold had used a rock that gave off an invisible influence to demonstrate
Shalidar’s guilt. Was this the sort of reaction happening here? Reynik would love to have time to study the place in more depth, but events were pressing him forwards with unrelenting
pace.

In the centre of the chamber there was a large, flat block of stone that looked suspiciously like an altar. As he drew nearer, Reynik could see that there were deep engravings in the top
surface. Pictures matching the predator symbols in the meeting hall had been carved into the stone. Some were tiny. Others were larger. However, each predator symbol on this rock had something in
common – there was an identical circle of runes carved around each one.

The language of magic was written in runes like this, Reynik realised. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled at the thought. It was one of the few things he knew about the magical arts.
Until now, he had questioned in the depths of his mind whether the magical transfer to the Guild headquarters could have been an elaborate hoax. Any last doubts he had harboured dissolved in an
instant at the sight of the runes. This was real.

The Guildmaster led Reynik right up to the stone, whilst the rest of the hooded assassins formed a circle around it. The cave was large, but Reynik was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of
claustrophobia. He was hemmed in on all sides by deadly killers and sealed in solid rock. There was no way out. Panic welled inside, but once again his father’s calming words filled his
mind.

‘Panic is death. Do not give in to it. Breathe deeply and slowly. Relax your shoulders and be ready. The best way out of a bad situation will only become apparent when you’re
thinking clearly.’

‘Brothers, we gather again around the binding stone faced with a decision. Our new Brother here needs a name. There are three available. What say you, Brothers? With which icon should our
new Brother be bound? The Falcon, the Sea Serpent, or the Wolf Spider? You have all heard the tales of his most recent kills. Which would you say suits him most?’

Reynik glanced again at the top of the binding stone and saw the three silver icons nestled in their respective carvings. ‘Oh, Shand, please not the spider!’ he prayed silently.

The Guildmaster turned to the nearest assassin. ‘What say you, Firedrake?’

‘Wolf Spider.’

‘What say you, Bear?’

‘Falcon.’

And so it went on around the circle.

‘What say you, Dragon?’

‘Wolf Spider,’ the hooded figure answered. An involuntary shudder ran down Reynik’s back. The voice was distinctive. It was Shalidar. Definitely. His uncle’s killer was
the Dragon.

A woman’s voice, low and purring answered when the Guildmaster addressed ‘Fox’. She named him ‘Falcon’. Reynik was surprised. The Guildmaster never referred to
‘Sisters’, only ‘Brothers’. How had a woman gained membership of the Guild if it were so gender-biased as to not even recognise her as female?

The last member was asked.

‘Two say “Sea Serpent”, five say “Falcon”, and five say “Wolf Spider”. The casting vote is mine,’ the Guildmaster announced solemnly. ‘I
have considered the approach you took to your last kill and, to me, your naming seemed self-evident. I name you . . . Brother Wolf Spider. Take up your icon, Brother, and bind your soul with
ours.’

Reynik’s heart sank. The silver wolf spider icon gave him the creeps. It was not pleasant to think he would have to live with it close to him for the rest of his life. But this was not a
time to show hesitation. With jaw clenched in anticipation, he reached out and lifted the silver spider from its underlying carved image. For the briefest of instants, the world reeled under him,
but then . . . nothing. He felt completely normal. No unusual sensations, no magical tingling, no sense of anything out of the ordinary at all.

He had thought he would feel different somehow. The link that the Guildmaster had described between icon and the life force of an individual had made him expect to be consciously aware of it. He
was not. It was a complete anticlimax.

‘Now, Brother Wolf Spider, you are required to repeat the creed. By this creed you will live and be judged. No matter what the present Emperor may believe, this brotherhood has stood the
test of time because of the integrity of its members. We have a proud tradition of loyalty and respect that spans centuries. For better, or for worse, you have become a Brother to us. As long as
you uphold the creed, you shall enjoy the protection and support of this Guild. Do not seek to twist its words, or bend it to your will, for it will destroy you. Repeat after me, please:
I
accept that as a member of this Quild . . .
’

Reynik did as he was told, repeating each clause of the creed with as near identical inflections to those of the Guildmaster as he could manage. The final lines threatened to stick in his
throat, but he forced them out.

It was done. He had successfully infiltrated the Guild of Assassins. But at what price? Was the information he had gained worth his life? Maybe the Emperor would feel it was a small price to
pay: the life of one Legionnaire for information that could possibly bring down the Guild of Assassins. Yes, to the Emperor this might well appear a reasonable exchange, Reynik mused. A General
will calculate and analyse attrition rates carefully before, during and after any campaign. A good Commander will do the same. Sometimes sacrifices are needed to win the day. There is no place for
guilt in the minds of such men. Reynik knew this all too well. It ran in his blood. If a Commander allowed feelings for individuals to interfere with his decisions, then how could he possibly
expect to win the day?

Reynik had so much to tell Femke and the Emperor. Despite not learning where this secret headquarters was, he had plenty of hitherto unknown information about the Guild and how it worked. With
what he knew about the organisation, it would become much easier to identify members of the Guild. This information would be invaluable to them. All he had to do now was to survive long enough to
ensure he passed it on.

‘Welcome, Brother,’ the Guildmaster announced, his voice sounding genuinely warm. He put a friendly arm across Reynik’s shoulders. ‘There will be a short period during
which you will be on probation, and you will have to make your first kill for the Guild before you’re truly a full Brother. However, I don’t anticipate either will offer you any great
problems. Come now. I will get one of the servants to show you to your quarters. Please do not attempt to use your icon to transport out of the headquarters until I give you my permission. It would
not be advisable to risk travelling alone until your body has adapted to the transfer sickness. On your first foray back into Shandrim, your stone Brother will accompany you. Brother Cougar is your
stone Brother.’

One of the other assassins bowed. ‘Welcome, stone Brother,’ he said. ‘It will be my pleasure to shepherd you.’

The Guildmaster led Reynik out of the naming room and back through the dark corridor to the main meeting chamber. They were met there by a servant in plain brown robes who, in turn, led Reynik
onwards through the wolf spider alcove and into the corridor and chambers beyond. Shalidar watched him go, following his every step through narrowed eyes. The rest of the assassins were dispersing
to their relative alcoves, but Shalidar held back.