F-tier Assasin - Chapter 8

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Apparently I wrote the wrong date on the last chapter, as it said the next chapter would be on the 26th instead of the 25th. Anyway, here it is, a day 'early' I guess, lol.

-----------------------------

Chapter 8

James the Landlord was huddled into a corner and Dogface was knocked out with his head buried in the ruined drawers of a desk. After the Brawler had broken out of the apartment Ashlan had trapped him in and found the trio inside James’ caged-in office, Tommy had hurled the guy face-first into the desk, sending his ugly mug through the wooden panels of the drawers.

“If you don’t get a combat Assignment, then there’s something wrong with the System,” Ashlan muttered.

“I didn’t even throw him that hard,” he protested.

“I knew you were trouble!” squealed James.

He was a pale spindly man, who, despite earning quite a sum from working as the Landlord of the entire building, refused to spend any money on himself. His dark hair was dishevelled and clumpy, his simple hemp shirt and pants were threadbare, and he had a bitter anxious smell about him. His humble state might’ve been considered respectable, if not for the fact that it stemmed from a miserly and paranoid fear.

In other apartment blocks, the Landlords would usually reinvest some of the money they acquired, in order to maintain the place and have a reason to increase rent down the line. James’ block was a dump because the man never followed the others’ example, but that was also the reason why Ashlan had been able to move in to begin with. Still, he couldn’t understand why the guy just hoarded all his money.

Landlord is one of the rarer Assignments after all, and everybody knows that they earn more than most, even if they’re E-tier like this schmuck.

“Give me back my stuff,” he demanded.

James uncurled himself from the corner a little and said, “You don’t live here anymore! Anything left in the apartment after you move out belongs to the Landlord! It’s in the agreement you signed!”

“You kicked me out without even giving me a chance to get my things!” Ashlan shot back.

James glanced towards the exit of his office, but Tommy was standing there like an impenetrable barrier. Then he glared back at the Assassin.

“You know the policy! No death-dealers! It’s your own fault for not coming here right after your Assignment was declared!” he exclaimed, his voice high-pitched and grating.

I didn’t have a choice…

“What’s a death-dealer?” Frelly asked.

The cheerful Thief was a free spirit who slept wherever she fancied, though of course many Landlords also wouldn’t let Unassignable live in their buildings, as they were considered a liability because they didn’t have a stable income. Still, despite her exclusion from most social circles, it was a surprise to Ashlan that she didn’t know the term.

“He means any Profession that deals with death. Executioners, Gravetenders, Butchers, Assassins, and sometimes Smugglers and Thieves too,” Tommy said.

“That’s dumb,” she remarked. “What about Ash’s dad? He’s a Tanner, he works with parts of dead animals. Right?.”

“The focus is on those who deal death,” he replied.

“Then why are Gravetenders on there? And what about Swordsmen and other warrior Assignments?”

That’s a good question that no one ever has a satisfying answer to…

“I haven’t killed anyone,” Ashlan defended himself.

“Yet! But everybody knows you’re an Assassin! You signed the agreement before you moved in, so whatever we found in your apartment belongs to me now!” James squealed, perhaps feeling like the paper Ashlan had signed ages ago somehow protected him.

In actuality, those who’d make sure such deals were upheld, such as the Sentinels, rarely got involved with Northside. Instead they left the enforcement to the individual Landlords, and this meant that the strongest got to make the rules.

Ashlan took a step towards him, trying to appear as threatening as possible. “I’ll give you one more chance to give me back my money, James.”

“Or what!?”

There was one window that lit up the little caged-in office and Ashlan stepped past its narrow beam of light, before activating Lurk. As James gasped in surprise, he quickly moved around behind the man and clamped his right hand down on the side of his neck.

“Or else I will take it,” he whispered directly into the Landlord’s ear.

“I can’t believe he’d pass out like that,” Frelly said, as they were leaving Northside some minutes later.

After Ashlan’s performance had frightened James enough to make him faint, the trio looted his office and split the reward between themselves. The Landlord was smarter than they’d given him credit for, since there’d only been about six-hundred Silvers’ worth of stuff, meaning he kept the rest of his ill-gotten hoard in a secret location. There was no way he’d be using a bank, since that cost money to establish.

Once they’d split the coins, Frelly demanded half of Ashlan’s, which he easily agreed to. After all, it was about the same amount that he’d originally hid under the floorboards of his apartment and had promised away to her, meaning he was still left with a hundred more than anticipated.

“I’m going to take this back to my Mom and tell her we’re moving,” Tommy said, as they reached the start of the Archive district, which was sandwiched between Northside and Plaza.

He’d often talked about wanting to move and given that they’d basically just robbed the Landlord, it was probably a good time for him to do so.

“What are you gonna do, Ash?” he asked, looking at him.

Ashlan sighed. “I don’t know, man. I doubt I’ll find a different apartment in Northside. But I also don’t have the money to move somewhere they don’t have a policy against my kind…”

I guess I’ll be returning to the Guild sooner than expected…

Wasn’t really the plan, but I suppose it was naïve to believe they’d let me stay despite my Profession.

“You can always come live with me,” Frelly said cheerfully. She had made three-hundred Silvers, so of course her mood was up. Though she was rarely ever down in the dumps about anything, which Ashlan envied about her.

“I’m not going to sleep rough again. Last time was bad enough,” he replied, recalling when he’d taken her up on the offer once, only to discover that Frelly made a habit of sleeping in the doorways of shops, atop roofs exposed to the elements, or in the trees within one of Greenhill’s parks.

“I think I’ll go back to the Guild. The bed was nice and the Maid makes amazing food.”

Tommy gave him a dumbfounded look. “Your Guild has a Maid?”

“A Chaplain too.”

“That makes sense at least. But why a Maid?”

Ashlan shrugged.

“Are you allowed to bring guests?” he asked, clearly jealous.

“Unfortunately, no.”

Tommy frowned, before saying, “Well, I’ll see you around. Don’t be a stranger. And don’t forget. Six weeks and it’s my turn at the podium.”

“I’ll remember,” Ashlan told him.

As the big guy left, he couldn’t help but think to himself: Once he is assigned, I doubt we’ll be able to see much of each other.

Ashlan was betting on Tommy either receiving Sentinel or a warrior-type, such as Swordsman, Protector, or Brawler. Any of those would put them on opposite sides of each other and he even had the fear that they might become directly involved, if Ashlan received a Contract to take out someone Tommy was hired to defend.

“Where to now?” Frelly asked, pulling him from his dark musings. Her cheerful tone made it clear she wanted to spend some of their newfound wealth.

“Let’s find a place to eat in Plaza, then afterwards we’ll go to Greenhill. I want your help finding something there.”

They arrived to Greenhill with about two hours of sunlight left to spare, though Ashlan still hadn’t told Frelly what he was searching for. It was rare for the two of them to hang out and not have some goal centred around making money in mind, so she was obviously curious as to what he could need her help for.

“I’m about to tell you a secret you can’t share with anyone else,” he said dramatically, as they reached Winter’s Garden, the biggest park in the district.

Although there were several parks in Greenhill, Ashlan was banking on this being the one hiding the Undercity entrance, if for no other reason than the fact that it was twice the size of the second-biggest one.

“Well, spit it out.”

“Actually, I’ll wait until we find what I’m looking for.”

“Why are you being so cagey?” she asked, a suspicious tone in her voice, while she prodded him in the side of the head with her index finger.

“It’s huge. Trust me,” he replied, slapping her finger away. “You won’t look at Eventide in the same way after I tell you what it is.”

Frelly’s dark-green eyes narrowed into slits. She knew Ashlan wasn’t someone to make things up. “Now I really want to know what you’re talking about.”

“First we have to find a stone wall or something like it, which has the impression of a hand on it.”

Frelly scoffed. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

“You already know where it is?” he asked excitedly. He was only half-surprised, since she spent a lot of time in the parks. No doubt she also knew about the stone stall in the Faraway Markets, though Ashlan wanted to find it for himself without her help.

“Duh.”

“Where is it?”

“I’ll take you to it, if you tell me what it’s for.”

“It’s an entrance.”

“To what?”

“Not so fast,” he shot back with a devious grin.

“There’s another handprint on a part of the city wall in Northside.”

Ashlan nodded without replying. He really wanted to tell her that he’d gone from the Guild to the district through that way, but it would reveal what the entrances were for, and he wanted to truly surprise her by showing it to her directly.

It’s a shame she won’t be able to use the Undercity’s tunnels and chambers herself, since I know she’d be capable of mapping out every corner and discovering all its secrets. But perhaps I can give her supervised rides through the place?

When it was clear that Ashlan wouldn’t reveal anything, until he saw the handprint in Winter’s Garden, Frelly quickly led the way into the park.

The outskirts were defined by a two-metre-high sand-coloured wall and the first thing visitors were treated to were some flowerbeds and small copses of various trees. The reason for the wall was two-fold: it was meant to prevent the plants from spreading beyond the limits of the park; and it would make it hard for the animals living within the large forested area from venturing out into the city, where they would be incapable of surviving.

Greenhill was watched over by an A-tier Gardener with a love for critters, and rumours said she had led a march of animals from the forests beyond Eventide’s walls into Winter’s Garden, in order to create a small ecosystem for the citizens to enjoy.

Past the copses of pine, maple, dogwood, and oak, came artificial hills with snaking paths running around-and-up along them, where small flowerbeds, bushes, and stone decorations filled the gaps between the steps. Some of these hills had tiny lakes at their tops, wherein swam fish, turtles, and ducks.

Beyond the hills came a vast field of grass with a few great trees and large ponds here-and-there, past which a creek bisected the area and led to a ring-shaped hill with one enormous tree in the middle of it. Along the way were stone benches and public restrooms, as well as a few portable shops selling beverages and bits of food for the journey.

Though Ashlan hadn’t come here often, he enjoyed every visit and knew that the Gardeners behind it all truly took pride in their work.

Frelly was running between the trees and hills, as though a wild animal returned to her natural habitat. From the way she effortlessly crawled up and swung from tree branches, vaulted over bushes, and said hello to the critters along the way by calling out their various names, it was clear that this was her true home within the city.

As he did his best to keep up with her eager pace, Ashlan looked around for anything resembling the grates he’d seen underground, but he saw nothing even remotely resembling them. Of course, if it was easy to find them, people would quickly realise there was something below the district and start asking questions that’d lead to the Undercity’s discovery.

Frelly did cartwheels across the large grassy field, only stopping when they reached one of the narrow stone bridges across the creek that led to the ring-shaped hill. Somehow, despite her antics, she’d outpaced Ashlan by a bit.

Just wait until I get some movement Skill to even the balance!

The fact that he needed something like that to be able to match her was quite the testament to her natural talent. It was hard to believe the System was incapable of assigning her to something that satisfied its own requirements and matched her personality. Tracker and Outrider both seemed like Professions that’d perfectly suit her inclinations.

I wonder what exactly decides if a person is Unassignable or not… he thought to himself, as he followed Frelly up the hill.

Perhaps I should ask Harmon about it, since he seems sure that he can predict what Assignments people get when they undertake the Ritual.

“Last to the big tree owes the other fifty Silvers!” Frelly suddenly announced, when Ashlan reached the crest of the ring-shaped hill.

Before he could protest, she took off down the incline and he hurried after her as fast as he could.

The slope down was smoother than the one leading up, and they were both able to pick up a lot of speed.

A cloud passed in front of the sun as they ran, and Ashlan activated his Lurk, urging it to hide him from his friend and give him some advantage over her. But even as he felt it instil a sense of calm on his mind, Frelly looked back at him and grinned victoriously, just before slamming her entire body into the giant tree. Ashlan followed suit a second later.

“Ow.”

“I think I dislocated my shoulder,” he complained, lying upside down, with his head in the grass and his legs in the air, while his back rested against the bark of the tree.

She got back to her feet, before kicking him in the shoulder.

“Ow! Stop that.”

“Your shoulder’s fine,” she told him.

Ashlan righted himself onto his butt, feeling a sore spot on his shoulder joint, but although it would bruise up and hurt tomorrow, Frelly’s assessment was correct.

She reached out her hand to him. “My money please. I won the race.”

After pulling bits of grass and dirt from his hair, he replied, “I’ll give you the fifty, if you can guess what the handprint leads to.”

“You said it was an entrance, right?”

He nodded.

Frelly plopped down next to him, putting on her thinking face, which just amounted to her scrunching up her brows and pouting.

“Is it a secret hiding spot full of tools left by other Assassins? Like a hidden house or something?”

“Close, but also far from the real answer.”

“I’ll decide that when you actually show me how to get in,” she said.

Ashlan turned to take in the giant tree. He’d been here once, before he met Frelly. It was wide enough that it’d take twelve grown men linking their arms together in order to reach all the way around. It also reached the height of about five stories and many of its branches were wider than his torso.

“Where is it? The handprint.”

Frelly pointed up.

“Figures…”

“Are you already tired from a little bit of running?” she teased him.

He quickly got to his feet. “Not at all. Lead the way.”

With a fiendish grin, she got up as well and immediately jumped to reach a nearby branch above, before swinging herself up. Not to be outdone for a third time, Ashlan did the same.

As she hopped from branch to branch, climbed up the side of the bark, and dared gravity to yank her back to the ground, Ashlan continued to match her tricks one-after-another, until they both reached what he thought was the crown.

In actuality, the crown rose up above them, but the trunk was shaved flat and a hollow space sat above it, with the branches and leaves covering it up from the outside perfectly. There were ropes here, which were tied together in a way that they made small shelves, and higher up hung a hammock.

“Do you live here?”

“Fancy, isn’t it?” she said proudly.

“Sure… But I thought you slept on the street.”

“Sometimes. If I feel like it. But this place is where I sleep most often.”

His eyes returned to the flat top of the trunk they were standing atop. It was above six metres in diameter and in its centre, where the rings demarcating its age all met, was the indent of a handprint.

What a strange place to hide this, Ashlan thought to himself. I thought for sure all the entrances were set into stone walls, but clearly their creator was far more ingenious than that.

If the secret entrances to the Undercity are as old as the city itself, then this tree must be ancient. And perhaps this whole park predates Eventide and is some remnant from before a city was here.

Wait, no, that wouldn’t make sense, given that there’s an underground below this place…

This is a real head-scratcher of a mystery.

He pushed his thoughts aside. “Are you ready?” he asked.

Frelly was beaming. It was clear she must’ve wondered about the strange carving for a long time, especially if she’d been constantly coming back here.

Ashlan placed his right hand into the carving atop the trunk and felt a pulse move out through his arm and into the wood.

Click!

Frelly looked around for the source of the sudden sound, before running to the edge of the platform and leaning over the edge.

“A door opened on this side!” she called back, only her lower half visible from where Ashlan knelt.

He pulled his hand free of the trunk’s embrace and went over to her side, just as she swung herself down and through the opening she’d spotted.

Ashlan leaned down, momentarily spotting the ground far below and feeling a sense of vertigo, but then his curiosity won out and he swung himself down through the opening as well.

He came into a dimly-lit interior, just as the ‘door’, which was a thick piece of bark, began closing itself shut and locking with another click.

Lights? he wondered to himself, as he saw how the hollowed-out interior of the trunk had a vague glow coming from below.

Are there other people here already? Maybe Harmon?

They were standing on a half-moon landing, from which spiralling steps led down.

Frelly was jumping in place, her excitement reaching a fever pitch.

Ashlan raised a finger in front of his lips and she quieted down.

“There might be other people here,” he whispered.

Despite the dim light, there was enough darkness for his Lurk to function, so, as they carefully ventured down towards the glow, he activated his Skill to reduce the noise he made.

After only twenty steps, they found the source of the light. It was a brightly-glowing fungus that he had to fight to stop Frelly from touching. There was no telling if it was poisonous or whether skin contact was a bad idea or not.

Strangely, its glow didn’t disrupt his Skill.

“I don’t think there’s anyone else here,” Frelly said out loud.

He looked at the steps they’d walked down and saw that there was a tiny bit of dust that’d been displaced by their passing, while those below were untouched.

“Seems you’re right. Let’s keep going.”

As they continued down the spiralling steps, the glowing fungi became more numerous, until, towards the bottom, they almost entirely carpeted the walls and filled the air with tiny spores.

Hopefully this is safe to breathe, he prayed internally, as they moved through the clouds of floating luminescent dots.

Frelly’s eyes were wide in awe. The sight helped wash away some of his anxieties about bringing her in on the Undercity secret.

After they passed through the spore clouds, the wooden walls and steps of the giant hollow tree transitioned abruptly into pitted stone bricks. Although moisture coated the stones, the tiny gaps in the bricks from the rough surface helped prevent the walls and steps from becoming slippery. It was as if whoever had designed this passage way hundreds of years ago had somehow predicted that moisture would be an issue because of the hollow tree.

Truly the work of a master…

They finally reached the bottom, where more pitted stones led away from the spiralling steps and down towards a chamber that was full of trees.

Frelly immediately ran down the stones and into the chamber, and he followed quickly behind her.

Like the other tree-filled chamber Ashlan had seen, there were pillars placed throughout and the trees coiled around them somewhat, although these were bigger and had lots of leaves and branches, as well as thick trunks. However, unlike the other one, there was actual soil at the bottom of this chamber, and water leaked through the ceiling bricks and dripped down from above. A large spherical stone in the middle of the ceiling somehow projected sunlight out across the room.

“Is this what you wanted to show me!?” Frelly asked, turning back to look at him.

“This is just one of several chambers,” he replied.

She paused, confused about what he meant.

“Frelly. We’re below the city. Not just Greenhill, all of Eventide.”

Ashlan pointed to the other side of the chamber, where a slope of pitted stones led to a tunnel.

“There are probably dozens of chambers, and they’re connected by a network of tunnels, and those tunnels are connected to entrances like the one we used.”

“You need to teach me how to use the handprint to get in!”

“Unfortunately, it seems to only respond to Assassins.”

“Stupid System…” Frelly grumbled, before immediately cheering up again.

She let out a contented sigh, while running her hands through the leaves of a tree.

“Thanks for this. Guess you don’t owe me fifty Silvers after all.”

“I was thinking we could explore the tunnels together perhaps.”

Her dark-green eyes lit up in excitement.

“But not today,” he quickly added. “I’ll go back to the Guild tonight, since I might get a System Contract tomorrow.”

“When can we do it then?”

“I’ll leave a note in your tree home, when I figure out a day that works.”

Frelly was grinning from ear to ear. “Seriously, thanks for showing me this.”

She turned around and came back to where he was standing, melancholy and excitement warring in the expression of her eyes.

“We don’t have to leave right now,” he replied with a grin, rapping the belt bag filled to the brim with foodstuffs they’d bought in Plaza. “Let’s go exploring a little bit at least.”

Before the words had even left his tongue, Frelly was already halfway across the chamber, laughing like a maniac.

Sometime towards late evening, Ashlan returned to the same Guild entrance that he and Vagan had used earlier in the day. It turned out that the chamber he and Frelly had found was pretty close to the one with the grates in the ceiling and trees snaking around the pillars.

In the absence of the tool Vagan possessed, Frelly had come up with the ingenious idea of taking a branch from one of the trees and spearing it through one of the maybe-poisonous glowing mushrooms. The improvised torch had worked surprisingly-well for traversing the dark and it was still glowing faintly, when Ashlan put his hand against the imprint on the wall and opened the way into the Guild.

After they’d looked through a few of the nearby chambers and eaten most of the food they’d bought, Ashlan had escorted Frelly back out of the Greenhill entrance and found his way to the Guild by himself.

Since he knew he’d get some strange looks if he brought the mushroom-on-a-stick with him, he placed it into one of the empty torch holders outside the doorway, just as the light from the Guild’s interior washed over him and cancelled out his Lurk Skill.

Before he’d even managed to cross the threshold and take off his homemade sandals, Estrid was in front of him, two slippers in her hands.

“Welcome home,” she said warmly. “You’re just in time for supper.”

-----------------------------

Next chapter is going to be a lot of fun.

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----