The Killing Grounds Read online

  The barracks would be a different place if Black was A1 instead of Gideon, and she wasn’t sure if that would be a good thing or not. Both boys had positives and negatives in leadership methods. She had witnessed Black drill the class in the gym when Gideon had been away on other duties and it was ruthless, often leaving boys crying, whereas Gideon would encourage them to get better and stronger. They were the perfect foil for each other, often playing good cop, bad cop without even knowing it, and dragging the class along as they went. But that was the problem! The class was dragging along and it would take something different to whittle them down to five. Alara decided that she wanted be that difference.

  The shop owner's offices were abuzz with people coming and going, carrying various papers to the different rooms. Alara and Black asked for an audience with the owner and were escorted to a small alcove with two plastic chairs to wait. Alara was restless as the minutes went by and she started to squirm as her bottom became numb from the hard chair.

  “They're like ants,” Black said.

  Alara agreed, the people in the office never spoke, they just shuffled about their business without speaking or even acknowledging anyone else, she probed them but they were all mundane. There were signs of Artists emanating from the upper levels of the building, but in the foyer the power from the Artists felt weak and insignificant. A tall, pale woman came to speak to them, Alara watched her walk over; her grey hair was tied in a tight bun at the back of her head that was pulling the sagging skin off her face into a multitude of lines. Alara guessed her age at around fifty.

  “Madam Isabelle will see you now, her office is on the top floor, the lift will take you directly there, please report to the receptionist and she will escort you to your destination.”

  Alara and Black crossed to where several other employees were waiting for the lift, “Let’s take the stairs.”

  “Good idea,” Black replied and turned to the staircase next to the information desk. The young woman there smiled at Black as they started to climb to the top floor.

  “Making friends already?” Alara joked.

  “She’s not my type,” his reaction to her question was cold.

  They climbed the stairs quickly, Alara’s body had become stiff from the waiting and the exercise made her feel better as the blood pumped through her veins.

  Madam Isabelle’s office was on the seventh floor and by the time they reached the top, both apprentices were out of breath. They took a moment to recover on the landing. They would be better received as cool and calm assassins, rather than two out-of-breath children.

  “Can you feel it?” Black asked.

  “Is it the same spell scent as the shop?”

  “Indeed. It seems like Madam Isabelle has powers. They were dull in the foyer but not now…”

  Alara could sense the Artist's spells all around her; they were extremely potent and too innumerable to count. She mentally filed away the spell scent and interrupted Black’s train of thought, “Leave the speaking to me.”

  Black nodded and followed her into the reception area. Unlike the foyer Madam Isabelle’s offices were silent and a sense of calmness flowed throughout. They were met by an Arian man who gestured for them to follow him into a boardroom with glass walls. A huge metallic looking table sat in the middle of the room surrounded by black plush leather chairs. Alara sat down with her back to the window facing the door and Black took up a standing position behind her. She looked back at him but his focus was on the door. A tall blonde woman entered the boardroom and welcomed them, her voice was sickly-sweet and dripped with insincerity. They exchanged pleasantries and Alara felt the women try to pry into her mind. She put up a shield and pushed the woman’s mind back gently, but with enough power to show her she meant business. She reached out to Black's mind but he had also put up a mental barrier.

  “How can I help two of the Guild of Assassin's finest? I hope you haven’t come here to collect on any bounties today,” she smiled.

  Alara knew that the woman was being condescending, but refused to become visibly annoyed. The woman was obviously powerful and if she was to be able to get any information on Manak's whereabouts she would have to be polite. “Thank you for seeing us at such short notice.” She tried out her carefully constructed lie, “We’re here at the behest of our Lord, he requested that certain weapons be collected from the Shop of Manak and Sons but the shop seems to be empty. We found your address on the For Rent sign and wondered if you could point us in his direction.”

  Madam Isabelle examined her for a moment. “It seems Manak received some death threats,” she hesitated for a moment not taking her eyes off of Alara’s, “and he decided that life in the city is not for him. As far as I know he left overnight and hasn’t been seen since.”

  Alara sensed that Madam Isabelle was lying and decided to push the point harder, she stared the woman down. “My Lord would be highly pleased if you could help him with his enquiries.”

  The woman’s face hardened, “I have no need for your Lord to be pleased or not. I have no idea where this Manak is.”

  “Then it seems that our business here is done,” Alara said rising from her chair.

  “I like to conduct my business in a one-on-one manner, which Lord Assassin sent you?” the woman asked.

  Alara never missed a beat. “That’s no concern of yours Madam Isabelle.” She was sweating and her nerves were starting to take over; the woman was a powerful Artist and Alara didn’t know how hard she could push but she kept her voice steady. “If my Lord wishes to speak to you directly I am sure he will visit in his own time.”

  “Ah!” she said, “I do love visitors. Tell him I look forward to his company would you?”

  Alara ignored the question; she thanked Madam Isabelle and left with Black in tow. The two men followed them back into the reception area and ushered them into the lift. It was a nervous, silent trip to the foyer and Alara found her hand resting on her knife blade, the lift reached the bottom and the men escorted them out of the building.

  They spent the next ten minutes in silence and swapped the main street for the back alleys that wove in and out of downtown, making sure that they hadn’t been followed before Black spoke. “You really had no idea who that was did you?”

  Alara looked at Black who lent against the brick wall of the alley that led back into Marine drive and shrugged. “Some slumlord that likes to lie to assassins?”

  “That’s not any slumlord. She may go by Madam Isabelle but she also has another name: Sable.”

  Alara had heard of the name but hadn’t pieced the jigsaw together in the meeting. Sable was a high member of the ruling political party in the city. She was known for her ruthless business dealings and rumours abounded around her underground connections to every Guild in the city. Alara had never seen a picture of the women who was said to be a recluse living in the high hills in her mansion. “How do you know her?” she asked Black.

  “People talk in kitchens and I like to listen,” he replied. “She would send her thugs down to check on her food when she visited the Guild and I often doubled up as a waiter. She holds more sway at the Guild than you can imagine.”

  Alara knew her actions today would come to the Guild's attention and that they would more than likely be questioned when they returned, but her story held water. Lord Osari had used Manak's blades and he could have easily asked her to go and collect an order from him.

  “This won’t go unnoticed Du Preeze.”

  “We need to find out who she’s connected to within the Guild. If she’s on the side of the Affiliation she may have knowledge of where Lord Osari is.”

  “You're assuming that the Affiliation has something to do with his disappearance.”

  “Can you see it any other way?” she asked.

  He thought for a moment and said, “No.”

  “Then we go ahead with the plan,” she replied.

  “There’s a plan?”

  She hadn’t got it all figured out yet, but
they had limited time away from the barracks and she wanted to gather as much intelligence as she could before they were locked in again. “Sure.”

  “And why do I get the feeling that I’m not going to like it?”

  She smiled at him. “Ever wanted to see how the other half live?” “You cannot be serious.” Even as he said it he knew the answer.

  “Deadly!”

  Fourteen:

  It was late afternoon and the snow was falling from iron clouds in droves as the two young assassins waited across the road from Madam Isabelle’s gate to her estate. Alara had scanned for any barriers to the entrance only to find several powerful wards barring their way. A guard house stood inside the premises, half-hidden in a hut that hugged the side of the wall, while three heavily armed guards were on patrol nearby. A black limo had entered the grounds earlier and Alara noted how the guards saluted to the car as it sped down the driveway. She’d memorised the number plate of the vehicle, but couldn’t see the occupants through the smoked glass windows. It had to be Sable’s car, no one else would be able to move around such a guarded area without being checked thoroughly first. Several delivery trucks had been searched by the guards and Alara could sense the wards had been dropped to allow them access to the mansion grounds.

  “That’s our way in,” she told Black. “We’ll drop onto the roof of one of the trucks; the guards never check the tops.” Black nodded and followed her back up the road to a nearby tree that looked strong enough for them to climb. Its limbs hung over the road, casting shadows thick enough for them to hide in. They climbed the tree with ease, but Black had to stop her falling when they made their way out onto the branch that reached over the road, she gritted her teeth and thanked him. A small truck passed underneath, but Alara held Black’s arm as he readied himself to jump. “Too small,” she whispered, “let’s wait for a bigger one.”

  Alara’s fingers were getting too cold to hang onto the branch and the wind cut through her fatigues, but she wasn’t going to let anything stop her plan. She sent a healing wave of energy through her body and concentrated on slowing her breathing to conserve energy. Two flatbed trucks passed underneath and Alara was tempted to jump, but the guards would have been able to spot the assassins a mile off. She threw a shield around them both hoping to the gods that there were no Artists on guard that could sense the spell, and waited until a large lorry rolled into view. Its bulk was being hindered by the low hanging branches and the driver was doing all he could to knock them down as he trundled down the road. If she didn’t move now the lorry would knock them out of the tree.

  She looked at Black and nodded. The cab of the lorry passed beneath them and Alara heard the engines rev as the driver attempted to push his way down the road. Both assassins jumped together before the lorry tore the branches from the tree. Alara landed first, but Black had aimed for the same spot and knocked her towards the edge of the roof. She lost her balance and dropped off the side, her hands flailed as she tried to find a hold, focus girl! She twisted her body in the air and grabbed for the side of the lorry, her heart was pumping as she looked at the lorry’s wheels three metres below her. As her body made contact with a support beam holding the tarpaulin cover pain flooded into her arms and back. The side of the truck's roof was frozen and her fingers lost their grip, and as Black grabbed her arm she looked up into his eyes as tears ran down her face. She climbed back onto the roof with his help and sat gulping down big breaths.

  “Down,” he hissed as the lorry came into the guards' view.

  Alara’s body jolted as she flung herself face down on the roof. The pain in her back flared again until she felt a healing wave tingle and calm her body. “Thanks I needed that.”

  Black smiled, put a finger to his lips for quiet and pointed to the highest point of the roof.

  The lorry stopped at the gates and Alara listened as the guards questioned the truck driver and inspected the contents of the lorry. She sensed the wards being dropped and the driver put the heavy vehicle into gear and lurched up the stone driveway. She pointed back toward the rear and leopard-crawled across the roof and dropped off the back of the truck and onto the gravel driveway. Without looking for Black she ran into the bushes that lined either side of the drive. Black came to rest beside her as two guards came into view. Alara switched to mind speak. Stay low and wait for the guards to go by. She pulled Black in close to her as they passed.

  “Well this is nice,” he said, after the guards had disappeared around a corner.

  Alara pushed him away. “Don’t you go getting any ideas!”

  “Sorry! I was forgetting that you’re saving yourself for Gideon.”

  She ignored the jibe. “We need to get closer. If Manak’s here we need to find him quickly.”

  Black nodded and pointed to a path that led to the side of the building. “If he’s here they’ll keep him locked up in one of the barns. There’s no way they would let a lowborn into the main mansion.”

  They kept low and ducked into the bushes as several guards passed them on their patrols, the path led to two large outbuildings that were thirty metres away from the main house. Lights were burning in the windows and three guards milled around the first building. “Guard’s barracks,” Black said and pointed to the other building. “If they’re holding him here he’ll be in there.”

  They skirted around the outbuildings, making sure to keep as far away from the guard barracks as possible, and disappeared into the shadows of the second building without being seen. Alara probed the barn for any wards but found none. Muffled voices were coming from inside. “Stay here and watch those guards,” she said as she scouted the area for a way into the barn. She found a rope that led up to a hayloft and climbed up and unlocked the hayloft's door lock with her mind. Using her body as a counter weight she swung the rope to and fro until she was able to grab the door and scamper into the loft. She crouched at the opening and waved for Black to join her. The voices in the barn were still too muffled to hear so she crawled on her belly until she reached the edge of the hayloft. Down below in the barn sat a man on a chair in the middle of the floor with his head covered by a hessian bag. Two guards stood over him talking about some obscure sports score. Alara reached out with her mind and probed for any Artists. The two guards were mundane, but she recognised the spell scent of Manak immediately. Black grabbed her arm as she prepared to jump down and tackle the two guards. He shook his head and signalled for her to stay still. “Shield now,” he whispered.

  Alara threw up the strongest shield she could as the barn doors flew open. Snow drifted in carried by the wind as Sable strode into the barn with the same air of confidence she had shown during their meeting earlier in the day. She had an assassin at her side who wore a black balaclava to hide his identity. Alara felt useless, she couldn’t use her gift to get to Manak with Sable so close to her, and dropping her shield for a mind probe would leave her unarmed. Sable waved the two guards away. If Alara acted now she would have a chance to take out Sable and the assassin, but doing so would break all the rules of the Guild. Surveillance would have to be good enough.

  Sable crossed to Manak and removed the hood. “Good evening Weapon Master,” her sickly-sweet voice oozed with despise for her captive. Alara could see that Manak had been tied to the chair with his hands behind his back. “Tell me, why would two apprentice assassins come looking for you today?”

  Manak started to offer a reply, but she held up a hand. “I prefer silence if you don’t mind,” and held her fingers close to Manak’s head. He struggled with his binds, but they held him firmly in place, “I’ll look for myself.”

  Alara could feel Sable’s magic at work as she searched Manak’s mind for an answer.

  “So the girl is Osari’s apprentice is she?” She turned to the assassin that had entered the room with her. “That could prove to be problematic.” She nodded toward the assassin who crossed the room and stood behind Manak, who was now desperately trying to free himself.

  “Madam I
sabelle I assure you...” he managed before the assassin's hand covered his mouth.

  “That’s the problem Weapon Master; your assurances mean nothing to me. Your poor choice in enemies led them to my door and I can’t allow that to happen again.” She signalled to the assassin who drew a blade from his belt and cut Manak’s throat. Sable bent down and examined Manak’s face as his life blood spilled down his shirt. “No resurrection for you I’m sorry to say.”

  Alara and Black looked on in horror as the assassin removed Manak’s head and threw it into the corner of the barn. Sable stood smiling as the assassin cleaned his blade on the dead man’s shirt. “Nicely done as always,” she complimented the assassin. “Please ensure that the female assassin that caused this unfortunate event meets with a similar fate, but leave the boy to me.” The assassin bowed silently and followed his mistress from the barn.

  ***

  Alara and Black hid in the back of a truck as it left Sable’s grounds. The guards never bothered to check the outgoing cargo and the two apprentices waited for a full ten minutes for the truck to stop at a set of lights before they made their escape complete. They jogged back into the city and only stopped to buy a hot pie to eat, the day had taken its toll on both of them and they were exhausted. The sight of Manak being decapitated didn’t worry Alara, but the thought that that she had inadvertently caused his death did. Alara had wanted to quiz Manak for herself and squeeze some information out of him, but that was now impossible. If he had been resurrected she would have had the opportunity, but that chance was gone.