Nameless, faceless, voiceless... heartless?

1 Assassin

The unwritten rules to survive were simply: don't stare at them, don't provoke them, don't back him into a corner. And Danai, his boss, cared very much about his and his companions' life.

"Medals mean nothing if you wear them in your coffin. What good would a medal do if you're dead?" Danai had said more than once. "What good is to arrest an Assassin if he drags me to hell with him?"

A great many in the barracks saw it that way. Over time, the city guards and the Bangkok's Assassins had developed a sort of truce, although nothing was signed. They tolerated each other. It was also because people soon realized that Assassins didn't kill randomly. If you didn't interfere in their business, there was no risk. It was precisely for that reason many guards kind of looked the other way.

After only a few months, Danai considered him reliable enough to involve him more in the guards' business. But Kongpob didn't like what he found out: it was one thing to avoid the possibility of a potentially lethal confrontation, quite another to conspire against public order.

That morning he and his group had changed their regular patrol route, swapping it with another unit. Kongpob didn't think much of it. It wasn't unusual for guards to swap patrol. While they were taking a break in the Market Square, Danai was taken aside by a scholar. Apparently, the scholar needed him to mediate a small dispute between him and a merchant.

Five minutes passed, and ten minutes passed, but Danai was still stuck with the parchment seller. A tough chap, you might say. Kongpob chuckled looking at his superior. It seemed Dani was struggling to keep up with him.

Suddenly, something else caught his attention.

"Nai." He hissed worriedly at his companion sprawled on the bench next to him. "I think that Assassin is keeping an eye on Danai."

Nai didn't move. "Did you make eye contact with him?"

"I don't think so." Kongpob was getting nervous. There were no other guards around.

"Then stop staring at him and stay calm. Danai is safe; he's here for the scholar."

"What?"

"The merchant is one of the Assassins' contacts." He explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Danai exchanges information with him to know where it's better not to be to avoid troubles."

"Are you kidding?" Kongpob could not believe what he was hearing.

"Not at all. Danai has managed to gain his trust. This way we can avoid the biggest threats."

Kongpob wanted to throw up. When did corruption reached such a high level?

He couldn't even look at him, not even when he came back to them. With slumped shoulders, he dragged his foot behind his two comrades.

"Trouble ahead." Danai told them as soon as they were far enough away. "I've never seen him act so nervous. That damned merchant hasn't really told me what's going on... anyway they've gone into planning mode for something big. This poses a risk to the northern area of Bangkok for the next few days."

Kongpob hed been only half listening. He was disgusted with the whole thing, but he pricked up his ears when Danai mentioned Ayutthaya.

"Looks like the bloody Master of Assassins unleashed a Reaper to go after this Warut." He said with a grim expression. "May God have mercy on his soul because that Reaper won't. Looks like this one's hothead. We need to lie low for a few days, wait until the heat dies down, okay?"

Then they resumed their normal patrol duties. At the end of his shift, he hurried off.

He felt dirty, betrayed, like an accomplice to a colossal fraud. He'd thought he found a good teacher in Danai... apparently, it wasn't like that. Danai was feeding the Assassins information in exchange for advice to stay out of trouble.

He felt even worse as he went to Wairut. Thanks to his uniform, it was easy to get an audience with the slave trader. But warning him that his life was in danger didn't lighten his conscience. Especially not after getting to know him and seeing his... business.

He tried to rationalize, to think that Danai was wrong. That he had done nothing but rectify Danai's mistake, that he was saving a person's life, but his mind was still not at peace.

A few hours later, in addition to feeling betrayed, he found out the slaver had died anyway. The very next morning, Wairut had been killed together with many of his men.

His whole world fell apart.

He said he wasn't feeling well and asked for a couple of days off. Wearing civilian clothes, he wandered the streets searching for something that would help clean his conscience. He walked for hours, until the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

He was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the woman with a heavy jar on her head. The shock brought him back to reality. Only his quick reflexes allowed him to grab the poor woman before she reached the floor. He expected to hear the sound of the jar breaking, but it didn't happen. Looking up, he saw that someone had caught it in time.

Still confused by the abrupt return to reality, Kongpob managed only a grateful but still embarrassed smile.

"Nice catch man." He chuckled to defuse the tension.

"Yours wasn't bad either." Replied the other amused.

As he helped the woman to his feet, Kongpob's gaze fell on the forearm holding the jar.

His heart skipped a beat.

A left-arm vambrace with five plates embossed on it: a Reaper.

He almost dropped the woman to the ground.

NOTE

Here's the first thing you should know about this story: I love Assassin's Creed. I wanted to write a ff set in this world for a long time and this KongArtWeek seems to be a great occasion. To make it simple, for this KongArtWeek I won't write seven different stories but just one. The chapters won't be posted in chronological order but following the prompts order. I don't know what the final outcome will be, but I had to try.

Enjoy and stay safe 💜