"The system had made it very clear that they didn't want me anymore, and this story proves that I'm nothing if not spiteful when provoked. So once I got a safe distance from Kelsai and found a quiet town on the coast west of here to set up shop, I decided I'd create a system of my own to take care of all the people that the academies tend to overlook—the little people.
“You all, working within the Academy's codes and practices, get to kill rich people at the behest of other rich people in exchange for the still-living rich person becoming slightly less wealthy and you somewhat more so. And sure, in killing these wealthy types, you’re taking care of someone who has been wronging those little people under their watch for some time, but it's incidental. You didn't set out to right wrongs. They happened to get in your way.
"I wanted to set out specifically for that purpose. I would take all the jobs the council felt were beneath our ‘highly trained and sophisticated’ members in exchange for shelter, food, a place to sleep, and a loft to hide in. One can never underestimate the eternal forgetfulness of a peasant you've helped when a well-dressed person on an expensive horse asks about you.”
“And that’s how you eluded everyone for so long,” Elayna mused practically to herself, her eyes slightly glazed with the concentration of putting all the final pieces into place. “That’s also why you’ve got so many bounties on you, right?”
“Indeed…turns out people only get upset when you stab their friends if you do it without the proper paperwork. It all played into my image as a rogue assassin, though, seemingly attacking upper-class types without warning. That put the fear of me into people and began making the robber barons at least think about what they were doing…even if they only ended up hiring more useless guards. I was already well underway to becoming the ‘hideous monster’ by reputation you all believed me to be when I arrived here, just for listening to villagers and…handling delicate matters for them. I think I’m even the reason seven royal districts have passed rulings about fair tax laws. They were running out of merchants.”
Albanos looked up at the stars with a tired expression, trying to judge how close morning was. “Now, I know I said we’d keep on with the questions until sunrise, but honestly, I think I’ve been more than fair with you all now, having divulged more than I intended to. You know all that you need to know about me, enough to begin at least trusting me, I hope, and anything else can wait until—“
“I don’t buy it,” Lillith interrupted in her best matter-of-fact tone, pinching out her cigarette and flicking it into what was left of the fire before resuming her emotionless staring. Albanos locked eyes with her while a general unease spread through the others in the clearing.
“What do you mean you don’t buy it?” he asked through half-clenched teeth.
“Nothing is ever that simple around you. Nothing is ever that pat. It’s a beautiful story; I’m certainly not bringing that into question. So fraught with emotion and love lost that, when combined with your reputation, it seems almost…dare I say, designed to prevent too many follow-up questions from being asked. Let’s not upset the poor man more than he already is.”
Albanos stood very slowly. “If you’re calling into question Meliana’s existence or my devotion to her—“
“Oh, sit down. I wouldn’t think of doing that. I spend too much time in the Shadowgroves to do something that stupid. I’ve been by her before. It’s a lovely tree. And the dates match up. As far as I’m concerned, so does almost everything else in your story. At least the parts before you set off for the Spiders' academy and after you left Kelsai in exile. I've got it on good authority that this whole 'The Common Man's Assassin' thing really is what you've been doing the past decade and a half. And I’m sure you at least had much to do with what happened at the Spider Academy, too. But here’s my thing…
“The Spiders are vicious, and the Spiders do not focus as much on the stealthy aspects of things as we do, but one thing the Spiders are not, then or now, is unskilled. They are, in fact, very good at what they do. We wouldn’t hate them so much if they weren’t. I’m sure you’re very talented, but not 300 unassisted kills talented. Especially if you’re in a mindless rage. Rage like that doesn’t lead to great feats of combat. Rage leads to careless mistakes, exposing your back and flanks and getting put down like a sick dog by the first person to get behind you with a crossbow. I say again, I don’t buy it.”
“So what are you trying to say then, hmm?” Albanos was now slowly walking towards her, his hands twitching a little. Neither of them had so much as blinked yet.
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“I’m saying that I want to play cards with you sometime, Mr. K’hras, because if I’ve learned nothing else true about you tonight, it’s that you’re a horrible liar if someone knows what to look for. You’re still bluffing right now. Faking your indignant rage to keep up the show because it’s all you’ve known for the past 15 years. You wiped out an entire academy, students and teachers alike, then whatever wounds you acquired were miraculously healed by a randomly passing sect of life-loving druids in the Bitterstaf forest, a sect that has been dead for decades might I add, and you were allowed to live by the council after breaking our primary rule several hundred times over?
“You were right earlier. A man like you doesn’t get as famous as he does without making plenty of enemies, but it’s my experience that every enemy you make gets offset by a friend somewhere else. The enemy of my enemy. I'm betting you've got a lot of friends whose work you’re taking credit for because they’d rather not associate with you in the light of day.”
“And where exactly do you fall, Lillith, friend or enemy? Because I haven’t been able to peg you yet, and I really should know because I have particular ways of dealing with the latter.”
“I’m neither. Not anymore, at least.”
Albanos was right in front of her now, looking down at the girl who hadn’t moved from her spot during their exchange. He hadn’t been able to pick up a single tell yet, her face remaining a perfect mask for whatever was behind it.
“What is that supposed to mean? Where are you going with this? What is your problem with me, little one?”
This, at least, triggered a reaction. Lilith finally stood and undid the clasp of her cloak, revealing the midnight blue leather armor she had never left her room without. Also of note were the numerous belts, straps, and sheaths that gave her the appearance of dripping weapons.
“You and me, right here. You give me one good go-round with you, and I’ll tell you exactly my problem. Since we're being honest and revealing tonight and all.”
There was a moment of breathless silence among the spectators while Albanos processed this. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me, old man, or at least I think you did. They say hearing is the first to go.”
“Why on the gods’ green earth would you be trying to provoke me?”
“Because I have to know something, and the only way I can find out is if you and I tussle, so I say let’s go unless you’re just that scared of a ‘little one’ now that you’re a senior citizen.”
Albanos took a few steps back, adding a gigantic smirk to his unrelenting stare, then began undoing his own cloak. “No pressure points, no organs, no permanent damage which includes attacking the joints or striking at the knees, no hamstrings, the first person to draw blood wins. Are these terms acceptable?”
Elayna’s mind finally managed to reestablish contact with her mouth. “Lillith, why are you doing this?! You two cannot be serious! Albanos, you’re the adult, the principal, and our teacher! She's a student!”
“And this is the first night of class,” Albanos replied, never taking his eyes off Lillith. “Everyone take notes so we can make it look official. Especially Michael, since he seems to be good at that sort of thing.”
On cue and showing a remarkable inability to detect sarcasm, the sound of a charcoal pencil dancing furiously across a sheet of paper began somewhere to his left.
“I ask again, are these terms acceptable?”
“Fine by me.” Lillith drew a short sword with her right hand and a dagger with her left.
“And no poisons either,” Albanos added, shifting his gaze briefly to the dagger.
Lillith grinned, shrugged, and put it back in its sheath, drawing another instead. “It was non-lethal if it’s worth anything to you. I really would hate to end up killing you after you’ve come this far.”
Albanos pulled two daggers of his own and saluted. Lillith returned it with a slight nod, closed her eyes, took a deep breath...
And leapt.