Stargazer

Chapter 9

"Now, I must ask you one last time, to leave my f*****g tent." Pierce continued to stand there for a second trying to figure out his next move. I quickly gave my dagger a swish in the air, threateningly, and he jumped, but not quick enough to avoid a small cut on the cheek. He patted the fresh, wet blood and looked at his fingertips in surprise.

"Crazy b***h," he whispered, then lifted the tent door flap and ran out.

Well that escalated fast, I sighed as I plopped onto my bed. My adrenaline surged throughout my body and I felt too awake to sleep. I looked over on the floor and saw my gifts had been brought in and placed on the corner of the floor rug. I sat down and paged through the cards. Most Elder’s and Master’s had congratulated me in their fancy penmanship, as the letters were a tradition. From the other Assassin's I would be working physically with, I received tokens of gifts.

As I began to look through, I found a set of braided bracelets from Nova that had polished stones woven into the middle and a wood carving from Jerome, which I lifted up to inspect and found it heavier than it had first seemed. I half expected an elvish creature with beady eyes, but instead I found a larger, slightly curved wood with a heavy base. The wood was smooth and had been sanded down to perfection with a layer of sealing gloss. As I held it up to a lantern, I noticed little flickers of light coming through and in my confusion, reached to open his bulky letter that came with.

“Solé, congratulations on meeting your endeavor and may the stars always shine as your inspiration.- Your friend (and Assassin brother) Jermain.”

A plain wick candle was bundled in the note and as I turned the wood sculpture around, I found a small candle holder on the backside at its base. I excitedly placed the candle in its holder, lit the wick, and took a step back.

I gasped in its beauty. Jermain’s sculpture was breathtaking and brought tears to my eyes. The pinholes throughout the polished wood represented the stars and they twinkled in the dark as the candle flame flickered.

I opened my other wrapped parchments and boxes, and found other wonderful gifts. Some pure beauty, like the crystalized geode half cut revealing it’s purple glimmer from an assassin named Markham. And others were more functional, like the new leather belt from an Assassin named Karesha that would fit around my tunic perfectly and would hold the leather cases nicely for my new weapons. My heart was so full after all the gifts, I thought it might explode. I had never received so many things in my life and felt, truly, a part of a family.

As I picked up the remaining parcel paper and put it aside, one more letter found its way under the packages. I picked it up, tore open the wax seal and found a simple note with no signature:

“Solé,

Congratulations on becoming an Assassin. I always knew you would.

These are special weapons you have, meant for you. I'd appreciate it if you kept them close and took great care, like they're family.

D.R.”

I sat in wonderment at who a D.R. could be that I knew, but no one with those initials came to mind. The exhaustion hit me then and I slumped over to my bed, my sabre lay beside my bed and the dagger beneath my pillow. With my hand on the hilt, I fell into an easy and deep sleep.

At the first sign of light, my hand squeezed around the handle of the dagger, but suddenly felt none there. I panicked and threw the pillow from the bed, then took a deep breath as it reappeared. I must've let it go in my sleep. “I’ll need to work on that,” I said out loud to myself as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

Pulling out my Sabre from beneath the bed, I held it up to the rising sunlight coming through the canvas of the tent. It was very dark and old looking, and the handle had little details I couldn't quite make out. I lit the tea candle beneath my stove at the little dining table, meant for my little clay teapot, and while I waited for the water to boil, pulled a piece of bread from a basket and dipped it in the oil & vinegar mix in front of me.

Suddenly, as I stared at the sabre and ate the soaked piece of bread, an interesting thought possessed me, causing me to stop eating mid-bite. I took the chunk of bread left in my hand and rubbed it, vigorously, over the blade until the bread fell to crumbles. A few moments later, a brilliant shine began to emerge from beneath the darkness. My heart leapt as I saw the beauty could be restored. I raced back to the vinegar bottle, doused more vinegar on a rag and rubbed more all over the handle. The cloth squeaked and my hand began to ache. When I pulled the cloth away, I let out a gasp.

What a magnificent beauty of a weapon! It sparkled with a glorious presence. I looked closer at all the sparkles to find little clear stones embedded throughout the handle. Were those diamonds!? And medium sized pearls were placed around it that now revealed an intricate swirling star.

The pearls brought back a memory of the constellation I had seen the previous night. It made me wonder if perhaps the stars had aligned with the reveal of my weapons; the pearls on the saber with Vadalla, the pearl, and the pearlescent shell on the dagger with Camellion, the oyster. Or was there more to it than that? It was very odd I was only given those two weapons and still hadn't received an explanation as to why or how. There was that letter, though vague, and unsigned, it did make it seem like the weapons were of some value and meant for me only.

I got dressed into my new tunic ready to start my first day as a guild member. Giddy with excitement, I was sure to have my weapon holders strung on my new leather belt and fitted just right.

When I walked into the academy, I was able to track down an employee that was able to get me a bottle of silver polish. Without being able to hold in my excitement, I went up the main staircase and found the massive Guild’s Council room with its enormous round table in the center and two long tables at the front. I knew that the tables were for the Elders and the other for the Leads and Masters, with the active Assassin members seated at the circular table.

I pulled out a chair, careful to pick just the right seating for the best view in the room, and sat down looking about for a moment. It was glaringly silent and I pulled out my weapons to begin working at them with the silver polish. By the time the first person began to stroll in, who happened to be Elder Dracus with his saggy skin and walking staff, I had completed shining my new weapons. Both blades gleamed and I couldn't take my eyes off them in awe that they were mine. I was sure that nobody would be making rude comments about them any longer.

"Those are a fine pair of weapons you have there," said Elder Dracus in his frail voice and with an unfailing smile plastered on his face as he walked past me to get to his seat. I suspiciously thought back to the letter and the initials crept through my mind, "D.R".

Dracus? But it was Dracus Bellart for his last name from what I'd heard, so that wouldn't work.

"Yes, thank you." I smiled back at him politely.

"You'll want to keep those precious beauties safe, there." And he very slowly worked his way to seat his bottom to the chair with the help of his raw wood carved staff.

I nodded, stood up and placed the weapons carefully in their holders safely at my side as other members began to file in. Pierce walked in and, yet again, was back to avoiding all eye contact with me, which I was delighted to find. It would prove difficult to do so being that we were seated around a circle, but I had no doubt he would find a way. I could still see the cut on his cheek from the previous night, dried to a dark scab as he took a seat a few over from me, almost at my back right.

As everyone arrived, the meeting started like clockwork. Belefius, standing up at the lead table began by welcoming me to the guild. Then they went over the current events. Apparently, three Assassin's were stationed on watch at one of our borders from rumors that Geldel was planning another attack.

There was unrest between the two realms dating back centuries with history of war. It always was a bloodfest. The Assassin’s, not having the numbers of an army, always lost one of their own, but each Assassin was also capable of fighting ten times the manpower than one of their army could manage, so Geldel always lost many more of theirs.

“This will finally be the end of our war!” Belefius urged. “The King of Geldel is on his deathbed and the realm will soon be passed onto the next generation of the monarchy, his son, Prince Drudo. We will end it here!” His voice boomed with force throughout the Guild’s Council. “There will be no more war, no more pillaging our supplies, and no more murdering our people! We will eliminate the Prince, and in his place, finally unite the realms into one nation.” Just as I had suspected, Belefius had confirmed there was a lot more to the story than I had known. It was almost as if I was trying to catch up with everyone else. But I still had so many questions unanswered.

I stood up from my chair and the room responded in whispers. I knew it looked disrespectful, but needed to know everything, to be sure this needed to be done. “Is there no other way to unite the realms? Perhaps a peace treaty or...another way?”

“Young lady,” Master Kalweh was at the second long table and, unfortunately, I would still have to deal with her lectures, but now from a different room. “You mean to question centuries of disrepair and chaos to solutions that you don’t think we have already tried?”

“I just need to be sure before I...do this. I mean, times change, so do we know if this Prince Drudo will continue with the ways of the past?”

“We do,” It was now Elder Lawrence who spoke up. He was much younger looking than the other elder’s but much more intimidating with his dark gray hair and perfectly shaved beard down to the one patch. “There is evidence that the Prince has already signed his father’s last rites of the throne which include his army besieging our land and people. Is that what you prefer to happen to Sordova, girl?”

“Of course not!” I shouted back slightly frightened.

“And when we say, there is no other way, will you be able to complete the quest assigned to you? If not, please remember that the Assassin’s law states: you would be committing an act of treason against your government and Sordova.”

“Yes! Of course I can complete my quest.” I shouted yet again, and heard an audible chuckle break out behind me. It was Pierce having fun at my expense. I sat down slowly and looked at the table, face in red flames. I couldn’t bear to embarrass myself any longer.